


Unsealing Legacy

by Forlorn_Storyteller



Series: Unsealing Legacy Universe [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Clan Politics, Gen, Imported Character X OVER, Seal Master Naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-05-15 08:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 229,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5777791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forlorn_Storyteller/pseuds/Forlorn_Storyteller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small twist of fate made him aware of his heritage, unsealing the legacies his parents left behind. Graduating academy at the age of seven is first step, become seal master is the second. Unexpectedly he had found a kindred spirit in Uchiha Itachi & Shisui tagging along the way. They're on the path to unseal legacy left by their ancestor, both dark and light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1st Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> This is the kind of story in which, I write what I want which not necessarily a good story like any other I have written before. It's more to my personal pleasure you see, no worrying for 101 guide of good fanfiction.
> 
> I want to write a cool fuuinjutsu user Naruto, and so I write one.
> 
> Disclaimer: If I own Naruto, Obito would have die a hero looooooooooooooong ago.
> 
> Beta-ed by Supreme Dream

**1st Legacy**

* * *

**The Fourth Hokage's Legacy**

Naruto was well aware he was disliked by a majority of the Konoha population, hated even. However, even though they hated him, he was never harmed. He received no more than an icy glare, insults behind his back, and shunning. His safety was ensured by the ANBU guards the Sandaime ordered to protect him, but it still hurt emotionally. The old man would have prevented his people from hurting the boy's heart if he could, but to enforce a law like that was impossible. Not to mention until now, those who held a grudge against the Kyuubi never tried anything against its container in fear the demon itself would run amok.

The people of Konoha weren't crazy, but even the Hokage couldn't keep an eye on every shinobi. And even if he could, there was always that _one_ individual that would spell trouble over Konoha's jinchuuriki. Danzo was a prime example. Nevertheless, Sarutobi Hiruzen counted his blessings. He didn't yet need his ANBU to get rid of those stupid enough to harm Naruto.

However, that night changed everything.

* * *

Hiragi Youma was a survivor of the third Shinobi war; one of the first fuuinjutsu users in Iwa. He retired from his profession shortly after the war ended, because he wasn't just a regular seal master who worked in the village, researching and producing seals for a living was not for him. He was a front line seal master who worked as backup on the battlefield. His forte was fast execution of a seal rather than the complexity of it, allowing him to support his comrades. However, no one was fast enough to deal with Konoha's Yellow Flash.

He was thoroughly humiliated when Namikaze Minato slaughtered the Iwa force before he could even pick a brush. The only reason he survived the encounter was because he was hiding under his comrade's corpse, suppressing his chakra. He would never forget the eyes that appeared to glow a brilliant shade of Delphinium when they gazed in his direction. His breath had hitched, and he'd wondered if the sense of inevitable death was a shared feeling among his comrades in face of the swift and deadly Yellow Flash.

But Youma did not hold a grudge against Namikaze Minato like the rest of his village; he found it to be pointless since people on both sides were dying. Instead, he chose to admire him as a seal master. The man was a genius, and Youma was envious. He was talented in sealing having spent his whole life mastering it, but he would never come close to Namikaze's level.

The saying, _'Talent hits a target no one else can hit, while genius hits a target that no one else can see',_ couldn't be truer.

Namikaze Minato set his own unreachable target, creating seals no one previously thought to be possible. Youma retired knowing it was time to give up chasing Namikaze. The gap between them was too large to be closed and chasing the dream was pointless. However, in his fifth year of retirement, news spread like wild fire that Namikaze Minato died when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Rumors started floating – most were nonsense – but one caught his interest. Namikaze Minato had given up his life using a seal against Kyuubi, and there was a possibility Konoha created another jinchuuriki. It was obvious to say Youma was curious. A high level seal master wouldn't die sealing a bijuu so long as it was performed right. Namikaze dying from a mistake was a farfetched idea considering many masters before him had succeeded. That meant only one thing. Namikaze Minato had used a special kind of seal that 'required' such a sacrifice.

Konoha was probably the only village that would never flaunt their jinchuuriki. In fact, all that anyone knew was that Konoha possessed the Kyuubi, and that there were two jinchuuriki before the most recent one. The first fact was common knowledge. The second fact could be known if one calculated a person's life span.

His curiosity about the last seal Namikaze Minato ever created grew, and he decided to pay Konoha a visit.

He had to find Konoha's third jinchuuriki…

…the Yondaime Hokage's legacy.

* * *

It was no easy feat sneaking into Konoha, especially with the barrier created by the Uzumaki clan protecting the village. He would've had to devote a lot time and research into exploiting a weak spot, but fortunately, he found someone willing to trade information. In exchange for a safe route, all he had to do was hand over his life's work to Konoha's most dangerous missing-nin, Orochimaru. It was almost an unfair exchange, but seeing the last work of Namikaze himself was worth it.

Once he was able to sneak in, it was a piece of cake. Hiragi Youma might be a top seal master of Iwa, but he never made a name for himself (considering Namikaze Minato and Jiraiya of the Sannin were hogging all the fame). He didn't even bother with a henge; dressing like a civilian was enough to do the trick. Finding info about their jinchuuriki was surprisingly easy, and all it took was sitting in front of a dango shop. When six-year-old blond boy with blue eyes walked passed, civilians and shinobi alike gave him a wide berth while breaking into a hushed whisper. Youma easily overheard one of the customers in the dango shop mutter 'monster' under his breath.

**Bingo!**

Youma didn't cheer mentally for long, because he soon realized this hated child couldn't be walking around without supervision. ANBU had to be near to keep an eye on the child. It was the standard protocol for all non-adult jinchuuriki, and this child was no exception. If his experience of watching over Han was anything to go by, then this child was shunned by his own village out of fear. How stupid. What if the child snapped and went berserk? Iwa had learned the hard way with Han. If not for Roushi and Onoki subduing the young jinchuuriki, Iwa would have done the equivalent of suicide and embarrassingly wiped themselves off the map. Now, though, Iwa learned to deal with their jinchuuriki by letting them get away from the village, or in other words, voluntary exile.

But forget about his village and their jinchuuriki for now. He had to think of how to get to the child without ANBU noticing. He was a simple tokubetsu jounin, so taking on Konoha's ANBU was definitely suicide. He had to be extremely careful when following the child and his guards, since it was easy to alert them accidentally. He observed them from afar for days and found ANBU didn't follow the child 24/7. Surprisingly, because they couldn't. Once in a while, the child would prank the villagers for attention or to deal out some form of payback. When the boy would flee or hide, the ANBU had a hard time following him even with his bright hair color and vibrant, orange shirt. The boy could be stealthy when he wanted to be it seemed. Of course, ANBU didn't lose him for long, maybe a few minutes or so, but that was plenty enough time for Youma.

On his sixth day in Konoha, he planted a number of seals in the main marketplace and waited for the show to begin. He was not disappointed when the jinchuuriki executed his latest prank: a pink colored smoke spreading throughout the marketplace. It was harmless, but the rose smell was strong enough to make even women flee to escape the sickening sweet smell. Youma himself almost hurled but refrained, because today's prank would serve his cause well. Once again, ANBU lost their charge, and this time it was longer than usual because of the smoke and smell. In the same time, Youma activated his seal which caused the other side of the marketplace to 'explode'. It was harmless in that it was mostly smoke and sound. It was designed to be a distraction with minor damage and no casualties, so they would be more inclined to believe it was the jinchuuriki's prank.

ANBU, of course, thought it was their charge or a possible enemy ninja, but for a moment, Youma feared that the ANBU would linger. He grinned as they rushed away, allowing him to duck into the small alleyway he saw the boy run in earlier. Youma couldn't believe his luck when he saw the jinchuuriki still there, hopping up to reach the rooftop of a building nearby.

The jinchuuriki was obviously curious about the explosion. "Wonder what happened over there? Enemy ninja?" His eyes widened when he felt pain on the back of his head, and then everything went black.

Youma sighed in relief as he hoisted the jinchuuriki on his back. He then applied a genjutsu over the child so he looked like a little, brunette girl with fair skin. He quickly retreated back to the crowded street a bit further away from the market where the civilians were busy fussing over the jinchuuriki's latest prank. Youma stiffened and turned away when he saw a woman with a son glance at him curiously. His eyes briefly caught the red and white fan symbol stitched into their clothes and flinched.

UCHIHA! SHIT!

"Anoo..."

The seal master turned around slowly, faking a kind fatherly smile. "Ah, good afternoon, Uchiha-san," he greeted the Uchiha woman genially. "What a fine day isn't it?"

Uchiha Mikoto raised an eyebrow. It had been a while since anyone greeted an Uchiha so politely like this man did. She had called out to him simply because she sensed something off about him – or was it the child? Now that she thought about it, it was probably her just being paranoid. "Good afternoon to you, too. The breeze is indeed very nice today. Is that why your daughter fell asleep?" she asked with a smile on her lips.

The man nodded stiffly. "Yes, she also exhausted herself playing in the playground today…" He added, mentally cursing himself for engaging in a conversation with an Uchiha. It was truly fortunate he hadn't used a henge at all on himself. If he had, she would be even more suspicious.

"I see..." she said softly. "Then I will be on my way..." She muttered as she turned to walk away, but Sasuke stopped her with a frown.

"Kaa-san."

Mikoto tugged on Sasuke's hand, gently dragging him with her. "Not now, Sasuke. If there's anything you want to buy it'll have to wait," she said as the father-daughter pair walked away from them.

"But, Kaa-san!" Sasuke whined. "That man lied."

"Sasuke," the Uchiha matriarch warned. "Don't accuse someone you just met, especially a civilian at that." They were in a bad enough position in the village as it was, and it would be bad if rumors of Sasuke accusing civilians as liars spread. "Besides... why would he lie to me?" she asked logically.

Sasuke frowned, then muttered, "yes, Kaa-san." Obediently, he followed his mother back to the Uchiha compound. Sasuke recalled the only playground in Konoha was not currently usable. When he and Itachi had walked around the park yesterday, there was a 'Repair in Progress' sign near the playground. Itachi was shaking his head when he said someone named Gai accidentally ran into it or something along that line. So that man lied to his mother about his daughter exhausting herself playing, but Kaa-san was right. The man had no reason to lie… or did he? Kaa-san wouldn't listen, so he'd have to tell his brother later.

* * *

Naruto blinked his eyes open and looked at his surroundings. He was in a large room with lots of boxes and bottles—a sake warehouse? He crinkled his nose at the scent. He hated the smell of sake as it reminded him of the drunks that said unpleasant things to him. Naruto startled when he set his eyes on a stranger smiling at him with a genuine smile. "Uhm..." The man had long, brown hair and green eyes, and his build was similar to the ANBU he had seen before with a dog mask.

"Hello, kid, are you alright?" Youma asked. Now that he had a close look at the child, Youma could see the similarity between him and Namikaze. Iwa would freak if they knew the Yondaime Hokage had managed to procreate and turn the boy into a jinchuuriki.

"Who are you? I am Uzumaki Naruto!" The Hokage had told him that it was common courtesy to give his own name before asking for someone else's.

Uzumaki? He raised an eyebrow at the name. Youma pointed at his chest and said, "Me? My name is Hiragi, so just call me Hiragi-san." His family name was pretty common so telling the child was harmless.

"Hiragi-san," Naruto tested the name. "I think I will call you Oji-chan instead."

Youma sighed. He deserved it since he was the same age as the Yondaime. "Fine."

Naruto eyed Youma curiously. "Uhm, why am I here?" he asked.

He grinned at that and said, "Oh, you were knocked out by a bad person. I saved you and brought you here." If his observation was correct, this child had never been attacked before and incredibly lonely. If someone saved him, they could easily earn his trust. "You're safe here, Naruto-kun." And for added bonus, he ruffled the child's soft, spiky hair. This was the moment of truth. If a shunned Jinchuuriki was touched, they would either lash out or welcome the affection as a sign of trust.

As expected the child looked at him admiringly. "Thank you, Oji-chan!"

Youma smirked inwardly. That had been easier than he'd thought it would be. "You're welcome, Naruto-kun." Then he added after a beat, "But it seems the enemy ninja did something to you," he lied smoothly.

"EH?!"

"I can fix it for you though," Youma assured the child. "Don't worry and just leave everything to me." Naruto paled at the thought of an enemy ninja having done something horrible to him. "Now..." Youma rummaged through his back pack and pulled out a storage scroll. He unsealed a wooden board the size of an adult with a seal array carved into it.

Naruto watched the unsealing in awe. "That's so cool, Hiragi-ojichan! What is that? Ninjutsu?"

Hiragi smirked. Not quite his father's child, huh? "This is fuuinjutsu. It's one of the most complex shinobi arts... see this array here?" He tapped the board on the ground. "You use hand seals to mold chakra for ninjutsu, while in fuuinjutsu we use these to tell chakra what to do."

"Is it hard?" Naruto's eyes were shining with glee.

"Depends on you." He didn't see anything wrong with indulging the child. He needed Naruto's full cooperation anyway. "You have to be good in arithmetic, chakra theory, and calligraphy basically..."

Naruto crinkled his nose. "I don't like any of that. Can that even be used like cool ninjutsu?"

Hiragi snorted, "The Yondaime Hokage was a magnificent seal master."

The next thing Hiragi knew, Naruto had latched his small body onto his arm like a koala. "Teach me." He gave the seal master his puppy eyes. "Please~"

Hiragi faltered. He had discovered another scary way to use Namikaze's azure eyes. "Uhm... I will fix you first then we can talk about this again, okay, kid?"

"Okay!" Naruto agreed as he hopped off of Hiragi, bouncing on his feet.

The seal master sweat-dropped at the sight of the hyper kid and silently thank God that he was no longer an Iwa shinobi. Namikaze surely knew how to pick a wife; the rumor of his lover being the Habanero was true it seemed. The two monsters of Konoha procreated… this kid would be one hell of a shinobi. Then again, it was none of his business. He only wanted the data of Namikaze's last work, and then he was going to get out of Konoha faster than you could say Ninja.

"Now lay down here, Naruto-kun, and take off your shirt."

Naruto obeyed the instruction, but shuddered when his skin touched the cold wood. "Now what, Hiragi-ojichan?" He asked.

Hiragi smiled. "Just relax, you're going to fall asleep and when I finish you will be as good as new!"

"Okay!" Naruto cheered.

Hiragi formed seals for a sleep inducing genjutsu, and Naruto quickly fell asleep. "Finally," he sighed in relief. "Pretending to be a kind uncle is exhausting!" He grumbled under his breath, "Now... let me see the last work of Namikaze Minato." He activated the seal array on the board causing a seal to appear on Naruto's stomach.

He gaped at the sight. "Unbelievable... no wonder he died to make this." The seal was different than any other seal he'd seen before. There was not just one seal, there was three layers of seals. At first glance, it would look like only one seal, but a top notch seal master would know there were two other seals. The first seal was the main seal that tied the jinchuuriki and his bijuu together. The second and third however would be triggered in certain circumstances. Hiragi would bet they were failsafe seals and, considering the main seal and the bijuu it held, it made Hiragi wonder what kind of seal those were.

No one ever made a failsafe seal for a jinchuuriki. Then again, villages that had jinchuuriki didn't have Namikaze Minato. Hiragi couldn't suppress his growing curiosity and envy of the last work of the Yondaime. He badly wanted to unravel the seal, but that would have required him to be on the same level as Namikaze Minato or risk his life.

He cackled at the thought. "If I died here it would be justified. I was supposed to die when he slaughtered my team anyway... It would be an honor to die for my research!" He wondered if this was his sanity wavering again – one of the many reasons for his retirement. Then again, why would he care for the consequences? The worse thing that could happen would be unleashing the Kyuubi in Konoha, and that would only be giving Konoha what it deserved. Naruto would never have been so vulnerable and easily swayed if they hadn't shunned him. It was probably charity to the brat to let him have his own revenge.

With that in mind, Hiragi continued his work, but first sealed everything he cherished inside a special storage scroll. It was more durable than the average storage scroll in that it could withstand explosive tags and other harming elements. Nothing weaker than a bijuu-dama could destroy it he supposed as he began to work.

Kyuubi perked up, growling when he saw the Yondaime walk up to his cage. "What do you want, Yondaime?"

"Someone is trying to tamper with the seal," the blond Hokage muttered. "I don't know why, but it activated the failsafe temporarily."

Kushina then appeared beside him. "It activated mine too..." she growled. "Who's the fool?! If I get my hands on the guy I'll kill him!"

Kyuubi rolled his eyes. "You're dead, Kushina," he pointed out with a deadpanned tone.

The second jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi glared at her ex-prisoner. "Thank you for reminding me," she growled, "but what happened to my son?!" He was her main concern.

Minato paled when he saw Kyuubi's chakra leak from his cage. "Kyuubi! YOU—!"

The bijuu bared his fangs. "Not my doing, Yondaime! In case your memory is as bad as your mate's, your seal is designed so the brat can borrow my chakra!" the fox pointed out. "I did not will even a small fraction of it to leak into his system, so if it kills the brat and me too, you have no one to blame but yourself!"

Minato grit his teeth. "You really..." his eyes widened. "Kushina! Your chakra!"

Kushina looked at herself. "My chakra, it seeped into Naruto's!"

"Mine too... what's happening?! Is the failsafe seal broken?!" He quickly went to check the seal on the Kyuubi's cell. "This one is safe, at least... for now..."

Kushina breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, I checked the failsafe chakra too and it doesn't seem like it's going to break but... "

"But?" Minato asked, dreading her next words. "But what?"

"Some of our chakra and memories has seeped through because of this... I don't know how it will affect our son." Kushina clasped her fingers together. "Naruto..."

Kyuubi snorted, "It's been boring here save for his occasional prank anyway. As long as it's not life threatening who cares?"

"WE CARE!"

The fox laughed at that, but frowned when he saw the Yondaime and his wife disappear from the sewer. It seemed the seal had stabilized again. He wondered what had happened to them just now, though he didn't truly care. He just didn't want the couple to be able to annoy him all the time.

* * *

Hiragi left the warehouse in a daze, terrified of what he'd almost done. He at first thought he could be careless even if he was killed when he examined the seal, but the chakra excess Naruto emitted almost made him insane with the killing intent. Kyuubi's chakra was malicious. It didn't matter how hardened you were as a shinobi, it would make you quiver in fear. It was just so intense and full of hatred, it terrorized your senses until you wanted nothing but for it to stop.

It was a mistake.

A mistake!

He puked the contents of his stomach and then toddled like a newborn calf. He leaned against a tree, his eyes glazed as his whole body trembled. A squad of ANBU landed in front of him, ordering him to come with them without resistance and so on. Heh, the same standard procedure in every village. Too bad for them, he had no intentions of going with them, knowing he would be interrogated. He had made a mistake that left his mind in shambles, and the only salvation was what any seal master would do. While it had to do with the offspring of the genius bastard he'd been jealous of for so long, at least he was certain his life's work wouldn't be lost in vain.

_Back in the warehouse, Naruto woke up with a yawn and looked around to find the nice ojii-chan was nowhere to be seen. He was about ready to cry at being left alone once again, but his teary eyes caught sight of an expensive looking scroll right beside him. His eyes widened when he saw the note attached to it._

_' **Naruto-kun, I have to leave for an important mission and will likely never come back. As promised, here is a scroll to teach you everything I know about fuuinjutsu. Use this scroll to follow in your father's footsteps and become a great seal master. I am sorry I left without telling you.  
Good bye.**_

_Naruto smiled. Hiragi-jiichan didn't break his promise!_

He rubbed the inner side of his left thigh and applied the necessary amount of pressure. It was a failsafe he had never bothered to remove; a sheet of poison his superior had planted in his leg for suicide. As pain racked his body, Hiragi Youma smiled at the ANBU who gasped at his pained expression.

 _Namikaze, you better thank me_ for _what I have given to your son. I may have tampered with the seal with my half-assed skill, but what I gave him…_

_See you again in the next life, genius._


	2. 2nd Legacy

* * *

 

* * *

**2nd Legacy: Prisoner of Hatred  
**

**" **H** **umans are fickle being, they could hate as strong as they love...****  
greedier than demon and seek pleasure from slaughtering for power..."  
Kurama, The nine tailed fox

Naruto ran back to his home with the scroll Hiragi-jiichan gave him safely tucked in his backpack. He was grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of learning cool fuuinjutsu and becoming a seal master like the Yondaime and Hiragi-jiichan. He frowned at the sight of an ANBU squad stationed in front of his home and stopped before jogging to them. "Hello, good evening~ whatcha doing here?"

The ANBU with a bird looking mask crossed his arms. "Where were you, Naruto-kun?" Tori asked worriedly. They had gotten the corpse of the man suspected for kidnapping Naruto, but further investigation indicated the man was alone. They had combed through the enitre village before being ordered to wait for the child in front of his home, while another squad was assigned to continue their search.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Eh, shouldn't you know where I am? Like all the time?" he pointed out, innocently unaware he had scored a jab on the ANBU squad losing him _again_.

"Naruto-kun," Tori warned, flushing under his mask, "we're going to see Hokage-sama." And then after a beat he added, "And you're grounded. Three days of no pranking and no ramen."

Naruto flinched at that, "Eh, sorry, Tori... I'll just put my backpack in my room first, okay?"

A bear masked ANBU stretched his hand out to Naruto, and the boy quietly gave the backpack to him. Kuma sighed as he jumped to Naruto's balcony and put the backpack there. No one would steal it anyway.

Naruto opened his mouth to protest leaving his backpack there, but Tori hoisted him up onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before he could. "You're in trouble, Naruto-kun," Tori stated in a stern tone as they took their first leap to the Hokage tower.

"But Toriiiiiiiiiiiiii," Naruto whined. Tori was the only ANBU of the squad who talked to him. It was not like the rest of the squad was not allowed to speak, but Tori was the spokesman of the squad. But throughout his childhood Naruto could discern from their body language what they wanted to convey. If they crossed their arms with a lifted chin or tapped their limbs that meant he was in trouble and was going to get grounded. If their shoulders shook slightly that meant he had done something that amused them.

"No buts."

* * *

Naruto had read the rest of the note Hiragi left, including the part that asked him to keep the scroll a secret. Hiragi meant for the scroll to be for Naruto alone, not Konoha. If they knew about the scroll it would be taken away from him, and while the child was warned of that prospect, he was torn between telling Hokage-jiichan and lying to him. The Hokage had always been kind to him and had even assigned an ANBU squad to protect him. Naruto owed the Sandaime a lot and the least he could do was be honest with him.

But...

Sandaime-jiichan never told him anything about his parents, and whenever Naruto asked, he swiftly dodged the question. The only thing Naruto knew was that they had passed away as heroes, but how they were heroes was never explained. He also never told him why he was shunned by everyone either.

"I fell asleep in the forest." Technically it was true. He had been sleeping, but it was in a sake warehouse on the outskirts of Konoha. "The weather was nice and when I woke up was it late," he mumbled. Since Sandaime didn't trust him with a number of things, Naruto thought it was only fair he kept some secrets, too.

The Sandaime, of course, was well aware that Naruto was lying, but what good would it do to force the truth out of Naruto? The child had a stubborn streak a mile wide that he'd inherited from his parents. "I see… You may go."

That night changed everything.

On the way back home, he was once again carried by Tori. Naruto's eyes were glazed as a number of scenes played out in his mind.

**_"The main character is just like you, sensei."_ **

**_"Naruto… it's a beautiful name..."_ **

**_"Realize what's the most important thing to your brother…"_ **

**_"I hope our sons will be good friends!"_ **

**_"... neither shinobi nor jinchuuriki"_ **

"Naruto?" Tori called out. He chuckled when he saw the boy was sleeping on his back. "Fell asleep I see..."

Kuma snorted. "He ran us dry today..."

* * *

Deep within Naruto, Kyuubi scrunched his nose. It seemed what the Yondaime and his wife feared had come true. The memories and chakra had leaked into Naruto's system. Never mind Kyuubi's problem though. The bijuu was well aware there were small amounts of his chakra leaking into Naruto to build the boy's resistance to it. Kyuubi had been pretty much resigned about it since the moment he was sealed into Naruto.

**Clink Clank Clink...**

He'd had two women as his jinchuuriki, so a brat couldn't be any worse of an option in his book. He had contemplated driving Naruto insane, but his pride wouldn't allow him to sink to the same level as Shukaku. Seriously, that tanuki brought a bad name to bijuu, always throwing his name around in his drunken stupors. Had he no shame or pride to keep the honorable name their father bestowed upon them?

**Clink Clank Clink...**

Speaking of pride, he wondered how his fellow bijuu were faring with their jinchuuriki. When Kushina was still alive he had heard about Matatabi and Gyuki. It seemed Gyuki had been a good friend with his jinchuuriki or something like that. Ha! The second strongest bijuu had submit himself to a life of servitude for shinobi!

**Clink Clank Clink...**

**"SHUT UP!"** Kyuubi roared to no one in particular. **"Kushina! Stop playing with your chain or I will..."** He paused, contemplating what he could do to threaten his ex-jailor – someone who was an avatar that existed by chakra and the memory of her son. Nothing came up. Wait a minute, the avatar should be back to a dormant state by now, so where was the rattling sound coming from? On second thought, he couldn't care less. He just wanted it to stop!

**The next morning...**

"I can't sleep, it's so noisy... what a dream... full of a rattling chain..." Naruto mumbled, blissfully unaware that his tenant wholeheartedly agreed with him. "I didn't even check on the scroll Hiragi-jiichan left me." He blinked at the thought and went to his window. He opened it and shouted to a tree on the left. "Tori, can you tell Hokage-jiichan I won't go to the academy today?"

Tori almost fell comically from his tree. Then again, it was just a daily portion of bruised pride when regarding Uzumaki Naruto. The boy could easily spot them and identify them by name. Naruto couldn't see them, but he could sense them. Sometimes he wondered if Naruto was a sensor type, but according to the Hokage, it was in the Uzumaki blood to have a sharp intuition.

The ANBU sighed. "Naruto-kun." He was about to chide the blond boy but stopped when he saw the tired look on Naruto's face. "What's wrong? Didn't get enough sleep?"

"I can't sleep," he answered.

"Nightmare?"

Naruto shook his head. "It was a noisy dream. The sound of a rattling chain echoing in a sewer..."

"...I will send a message to Hokage-sama," Tori said. "Go back to sleep, Naruto-kun."

"My head is throbbing, Tori..."

The ANBU frowned. "...We'll go see a doctor then."

Naruto was too tired to protest that he disliked hospitals. "'Kay."

* * *

Sanada Anzu was the only medic Sandaime trusted to handle Naruto with care. She had been, after all, a dear friend of Kushina's. She had black hair that held a green sheen to it and steel colored eyes. Anzu was dressed in the standard outfit for female medics of Konoha. She was one of the few medic nin lucky enough to be taught by Tsunade of the Sannin. She was not an apprentice of Tsunade, but back in the third Shinobi war, she had been part of a medic class Tsunade had taught. In spite of her vast array of knowledge, she was nowhere near Tsunade's level, but she was good enough to be head doctor of the hospital. Unfortunately, her health was not the best and she would retire within the next two years. She had been reckless when she was younger and had been poisoned by a Suna nin on one of her missions. While immediate death was avoided by neutralizing the poison, Anzu had discovered not all of the poison from back then had been removed from her system. Now it was gnawing on her liver and heart and, within the next two years, would reach her nervous system and paralyze her. Anzu doubted Tsunade-sama herself could heal her, but she was content with continuing to serve Konoha. Her only worries were about Kushina's son.

The boy was a frequent patient, though thankfully not because of the hate of the villagers. If she retired, would her replacement treat the boy like she did? The boy rarely got sick, but when he did it was just a mild flu or fever. He also received minor injuries from his prank escapades. Anzu recalled Kushina was the same way back then. At first, after she'd found out about Kushina's status, she was confused about why Kushina needed medical treatment from time to time. Apparently, her tenant wouldn't heal minor injuries, because it was beneath it to give so many favors. She recalled Kushina didn't have the best relationship with her tenant, and she had to wonder if _it_ would treat Naruto the same way too.

"So, Naruto-kun... had trouble sleeping?" Anzu eyed her patient keenly, then briefly glanced at the bird masked ANBU. The boy looked like he was sleeping soundly, but it was obvious he was troubled. "All this time I thought he was the type who could sleep through an ox stampede." His mother could when she was off-duty.

Tori nodded. "He said, 'It was a noisy dream. The sound of a rattling chain echoing in a sewer…'" he quoted.

Anzu raised an eyebrow. "Chain?" That oddly reminded her of Kushina. "Hm... I don't want to give him sleep medicine." She had learned from Kushina it wasn't effective anyway. "I guess we can only observe him and make sure he is fine. There's nothing we can do for now."

Anzu had no idea how correct she was.

* * *

Naruto awoke to the sound of feral screaming and wet feet. He wondered how he got there as the last thing he remembered was napping on Tori's back on the way to the hospital. Since when did the hospital look like a sewer? It wasn't hygienic, right? He thought out loud, almost falling down when the feral voice screamed louder, thundering throughout the sewer. **"If you know it's unhygienic don't turn your mind into a sewer, BRAT!"**

"My mind?" he echoed as he ran to the source of the voice. "Who's there?" It didn't take long for him to find a giant cage and a pair of red eyes glowing in the deep darkness within.

Kyuubi moved closer to the bars with bared fangs. **"I see that my jailor has decided to grace me with his presence..."** He would have tried to intimidate the boy with his claws, but decided against it because distressing the brat risked the seal reacting in the undesirable way it did last night.

"Jailor?" Naruto repeated. "Who? Me?"

**"Yes, YOU!"** The Kyuubi growled, and after a beat added under his breath, **"to my everlasting shame."** He was pretty grumpy because of the noise from before and because of the fact it sounded eerily like Kushina's chain.

Naruto looked at the giant shadow with red eyes with childish curiosity. "You're big."

**"Very observant,"** he said sardonically.

Naruto beamed at that. "Thanks!" Rubbing the back of his head with that sheepish smile eerily reminded the Kyuubi of Kushina's habit when she was embarrassed.

**"You're not even old enough to recognize sarcasm."** Kyuubi rolled his eyes. **"I bet you don't even know what sarcasm is."**

"Oh! Can you teach me then?" Naruto asked innocently. The giant shadow with red eyes was nice! For someone like Naruto who had been ignored by a majority of Konoha's population, having someone talk civilly to him was enough to consider said person as a potential friend. The ANBU were nice, but they only interacted with him if it was necessary. "What's sarcasm? Is it something good?"

Kyuubi sighed. This was why he preferred his jinchuuriki to be at least capable of comprehending he was a dangerous being." **Heh... what a child… whatever, go away brat. I need my beauty sleep."**

"Oh... you're a girl? I thought your voice was a bit... low like man! Sorry!" he chirped.

Kyuubi's left eye twitched angrily. **"I am no woman, brat. Now GO AWAY and never come back!"**

A spell of silence hung in the air until it was broken by a choked sob. "Hic..."

If anything, his eye twitching didn't subside even as the brat in front of him burst into waterworks. **"Why are you crying, brat?"**

Naruto hiccupped. "You told me to go away... hic hic." Just like the parents of the children he tried to play with. "You don't want me here... hic hic. You want to get away from me..." he sobbed.

Kyuubi sighed. **"I wish I could."** He had zero intentions of consoling the brat. Who cared if he cried? It was something new at least. Mito and Kushina never let themselves show any weakness in front of him. Then again, the brat was an innocent child. Unfortunately, he had nursed his hatred for too many years to care for the brat's woes. He was as unwilling as Naruto was with this arrangement of jailor and prisoner. In fact, more so considering he had dealt with confinement for many more years. Speaking of the brat, why had he become so quiet now?

"You can't? Why?" Naruto had stopped crying and was looking at the bijuu with wide, curious eyes.

There was something in those eyes, and Kyuubi's mind went into auto-pilot like all living creatures did when faced with puppy dog eyes. The eyes demanded to be given into to. **"I was sealed in you, so like it or not I am going to be here for your whole life."** Mentally, Kyuubi hit himself for giving in.

"You..." Naruto stammered in disbelief. "Will be..." he took a deep breath, "with me forever?"

**"To my everlasting shame,"** Kyuubi admitted with a growl. **"I am inside your mindscape, so yeah... you live, I live unless you screw up."** The last part was muttered under his breath.

Naruto's big, blue eyes widened as he took in what Kyuubi said. He didn't understand why Kyuubi was stuck with him, but what he did understand was that someone would always be with him! He would never be alone again! So what he should do now was get the big shadow to like him! "Anoo saa! Will you be my friend?" he asked with the most pleading voice he could muster.

Kyuubi's eyes widened in disbelief. The brat asked what?! Friend?! Had he been dropped on his head or something?! **"Do you know who I am?"** he asked back.

"No!" Naruto chirped.

What in Rokudou Sennin's name was the brat thinking? Wanting to be his friend was crazy enough, but asking someone he didn't even know to be his friend was even more bizarre. Then again, Kyuubi's previous jinchuuriki never suffered isolation like Naruto did, because their status was a well-kept secret from civilians and lower ranked ninjas. While Kushina had suffered a bit because of racism in the beginning, it hadn't lasted long because she'd begun dating Namikaze Minato and people had forgotten her foreign status in the mist of war. In Naruto's case however, he didn't even have a clue about why he was hated and ignored to the point of being desperate for attention.

The gears in his mind started working. The prospect of having a too naive jinchuuriki affected their survival rate negatively. The previous night's incident was a testament to how dangerously naive Naruto was because of his longing. **"Brat, do you know what happened on October 10th six years ago?"** For survival's sake, the brat could cry himself hoarse, but he wasn't going get both of them killed because he craved attention.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Uhm... the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyuubi no Youko and heroically saved Konoha." Everyone in Konoha knew about it; it was common knowledge.

Kyuubi groaned as he moved forward, revealing his body to the child. As expected the child froze. **"And yet here I am... That was the bullshit your old Hokage fed to you younglings. I am an immortal being. Not even the Yondaime could kill me..."** The strongest bijuu hissed, revealing his sharp teeth.

Naruto looked up at the demon, stricken by fear at the sight of the nine tailed fox. He was gargantuan. The tale about his gigantic body was not an exaggeration. "You're... the Kyuubi? You're sealed… in me? Is that why... grownups hate me?"

**"Hoo... you're not as stupid as I thought."** It seemed the brat was not a lost cause. **"They think you're my reincarnation or something along that line... Fools! All of them! They fear a helpless child like you, how foolish!"** Naruto stared at Kyuubi. Did the fox just give a sound reason about why he was hated? Did he just call the villagers stupid… for hating him? For mistaking him as its reincarnation?! Logic told him to fear the Kyuubi, but his heart was elated that someone else felt he didn't deserve their hatred. **"Humans are fickle beings, they can hate as strong as they love... are greedier than a demon and seek pleasure from slaughtering for power..."**

"Is that why you attacked Konoha?" Naruto blurted out the first question that came to his mind without even realizing it. "Because humans are horrible?" he added. "Were we... punished by Kami-sama?"

Kyuubi couldn't believe his ears. Why didn't the child break out into a hysterical fit and blame all his misery on him?! Why did he ask about the reason he attacked Konoha?! **"Brat, I hate Konoha."** A pure and simple reason for attacking the village.

"Why?" Naruto asked again.

**"Why you ask?"** Kyuubi returned the question with another. **"I hate Konoha, that's all there is to it."**

Naruto shook his head fervently. "All this time, I never knew why they hated me, and it hurt... so bad..." he mumbled as tears streamed down his cheeks. "I didn't know what I did to deserve it. To them, I am ' _that child'_ or _'bakemono'._ They never cared about who I am... and yet they hate me so much." He looked up to his prisoner, azure eyes locked onto Kyuubi's red. "When you told me why they hate me... I was so angry, scared, and... relieved."

The bijuu stared at the child with disbelief evident in his feral face. **"Relieved?"** Kyuubi repeated incredulously. **"You're relieved because now you know why they hate you?!"**

Naruto nodded. "It still hurts," he admitted with a pained grin, "but at least I know it's not my fault... Now, I know I don't deserve that hatred. That's why... I want to know why you hate Konoha and humans so much, please... tell me."

**"..."** Kyuubi couldn't believe he was considering responding. All his life he had been controlled and seen as a lesser being with the base nature of wrath. Uchiha Madara had viewed him as a tool to control with his so-called blessed eyes. Senju Hashirama called him a creature too terrible to be free, and Uzumaki Mito and Kushina bound him to them to keep the world safe from him. He was a mass of chakra and hatred they feared, and yet humans were ignorant of what caused that hatred to grow within him. They feared his hatred and yet they nursed said hatred by imprisoning and using him.

All of them – even the shinobi who claimed to be the strongest among their kind – were guilty of this. And yet, this one child was the only one who had bothered to ask. A child of six years old, young even by human standards.

**"Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobe, Songoku,**  
Kokuo, Saiken, Choumei, Gyuuki, and Kurama... one day...  
Someday... will...  
true power" 

Kyuubi gritted his teeth, recalling the memory about the human who saw them as his children – the only man whose death he had shed tears for. This child bored many similarities to his father, so maybe this child was different than the other worthless humans. **"Your village has been imprisoning me for years, binding me to their will..."** he began. **"The Shodai Hokage captured and sealed me to keep me at bay... passing me on from generation to generation. Then six years ago I was freed from the seal..."**

"That's why you attacked Konoha when I was born?" Naruto asked, his eyes still wide and glassy with tears. "So many people died back then..."

Kyuubi snorted. **"If I'd had a choice, I would have left and never come back instead of risking my freedom to wreak havoc!"** the bijuu roared angrily, causing Naruto to be blown away into the watery surface. **"Revenge is one thing, freedom is quite another! But someone controlled me and made me attack your pathetic village! And guess what?! I AM SEALED AGAIN WITHIN YOU!"**

"... So, the attack is not your fault?" Naruto asked.

**"HELL NO! See where it landed me?!"** Kyuubi asked incredulously **. "I am no fool! And I..."** His eyes narrowed at his jinchuuriki. The boy's shoulders were shaking. **"Brat... you..."**

"Ha ha hA HA HA HA!"

**"What are you laughing at?!"** Kyuubi roared irately.

Naruto grinned from ear to ear. "No, it's just... both of us are stuck to each other unwillingly... and neither of us are to blame! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!"

Naruto kept laughing to the point Kyuubi thought his jinchuuriki had gone mad. That only lasted for a short moment before a stream of tears soaked the child's cheek. **"Brat, are you crying, laughing, or both?"** They didn't seem like tears of happiness.

"It's just... it never ends," Naruto muttered sadly. "I should hate the villagers since they made my life miserable, but… since they hate me because of you I should hate you instead. But you're stuck with me because... it's someone else's fault..." Naruto shook his head. "It just goes on... should I hate the Yondaime now for sealing you in me? No. He had to save Konoha, but then should I hate Konoha? And now... it's back to square one..." His lips quivered. "I thought I would be happy to know why I am hated by everyone, because then I could change their minds or even hate them back... but in the end, I can do neither... and it still _hurts_ so much..."

Kyuubi eyed Naruto skeptically, looking for a sign of dishonesty. He found none. The boy was being honest. Then again, his family was never one to lie either. As much as he hated Mito and Kushina, he respected their sincerity. Other humans could betray and lie as easily as breathing, but not Mito and Kushina, and neither could this child it seemed. **"I see... so what would you do, child?"**

And as expected, the boy was unaware Kyuubi called him child instead of brat. "I don't know." Kyuubi sighed, it was never this complicated with his previous jinchuuriki. "Will you be my friend?"

The fox stared at Naruto then sighed. "... **I thought I would get used to your antics, but I'm not,"** Kyuubi admitted. Not even the boy's mother could be so persistent – or even think of being his friend. Then again, Kushina was told by Mito that he was a mass of chakra full of hatred, while Naruto had no one to teach him that. **"Why would you want to be a friend of a bijuu? One who has terrorized your village and made you a pariah?"**

Naruto grinned his first true smile since he found out about his jinchuuriki status. "Tori once said, 'birds of the same wings gather together'."

**"I think you mean birds of a feather flock together..."** Kyuubi corrected, rolling his eyes.

The boy blinked at that. "Yeah! And you see... since we're stuck together... I thought..."

**"No."**

"Why not?"

**"Just because."**

Naruto harrumphed. "I guess this is what they call the courting process!" He had seen a jounin attempt to befriend a pretty lady, and after said jounin failed, another jounin came and advised his friend to take it easy and slow the courting process.

Kyuubi eyed his jinchuuriki skeptically, wondering why he had to deal with this instead of Kushina and Minato. **"Courting is to get yourself a mate, child."**

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you!" Naruto started, coincidentally ignoring Kyuubi's correction. "What's your name?" He had seen a girl his age using the same introduction to be another girl's friend. They backed away when he tried the same thing though.

Kyuubi groaned. **"You know who I am."**

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Is Kyuubi your _real_ name?"

Kyuubi groaned again. He would disrespect his old man who gave him the name if he dared to say yes to that question. **"It's 'what' I am. Nine tails is not my _real_ name." ** After a beat he added, **"And I'm not going to tell you either."**

"But if it's _what_ you are, I don't want to call you Kyuubi anymore!" Naruto refused with a scowl. "That's like the villagers calling me 'that boy' or 'monster'. They don't care _who_ I am!"

Kyuubi sighed again. This was getting ridiculous. The brat was getting under his skin and he'd only known him for half an hour. It was record time. **"Fine... I am Kurama, and I..."** He shook his head. He was not going to rant about how he was the king of Mount Kurama, his tails, or his beauty like a certain ape brother of his.

"So your name is Kurama!" Naruto beamed, and Kyuubi was startled to see the boy was elated from learning his name. "Ne ne... my name means maelstrom you know?"

Kurama snorted. The boy was a keen learner, observing how to make friends. What made the brat think it could work on a bijuu? **"Actually, you're named after another kind of 'Naruto' that was randomly thought of when eating ramen,"** he muttered under his breath recalling Kushina and Minato's conversation with the Toad Hermit.

"Did you say something?" Naruto tilted his head to side, ears perked up at Kyuubi.

**"No."**

"Oh okay... so what's your name mean?" Naruto urged on, grinning from ear to ear.

Kurama growled. **"Enough is enough! Don't keep pestering me! You should be honored I even bothered to tell you my name. I am not going to be your friend and that's it."**

Naruto looked like he was about to protest but held his tongue. He shook his head. "I'm sorry for being annoying Kurama... I'm just so used to acting that way so people will pay attention to me..." The fox flinched involuntarily. That was a sore spot. "But I'm not giving up about being your friend, because then... we can both stop hurting from this hatred... "

**"..."**

"I guess I'll go now, but I will come back again, Kurama." He grinned. "See you later," the jinchuuriki said as he turned around and started to walk away.

**"Oi Naruto."**

"Eh?"

**"You can try."** Kyuubi considered that as a challenge and wanted to see if the brat would rise to the occasion in spite of all the odds.

Naruto spun around, staring at the bijuu in shock. That was not a 'yes' to be his friend, but it definitely wasn't outright rejection. That meant one day, Kurama would accept him as a friend. That was more of a chance than any of the villagers had given him, and here the bijuu they feared so much had given him a shred of hope. "Thank you, Kurama..." Naruto muttered in gratitude. Then after a beat he added, "By the way... uhm, do you know how I get out?"

Kurama's left eye twitched violently. **"This isn't going to be the last time I deal with your idiocy, is it?"** Damn Minato and Kushina. Why did he have to deal with this? **"Oi, Naruto. For our survival's sake, stop trusting so easily."** Unexpectedly, the boy nodded, his expression looking resigned as he accepted the truth reluctantly. **"Also, keep this encounter a secret. As kind as your Hokage appears, he has to put his pathetic village above everything else... including you... "**

Naruto nodded again. "I won't blame him for that either."

He snorted at that. **"Whatever, but bear in mind that your life is not your own... and maybe one day you can prove yourself to be the one _we_ have been waiting for... for so long... "**

"Eh... Kura... what do you...?" And everything went white.

* * *

Naruto woke up and found the Sandaime hovering above him with a worried expression. "Hokage-jiichan?"

Sandaime smiled at the child, caressing his yellow locks. "How are you feeling, Naruto?"

The child stiffened for a moment, then his lips curved into a smile. "I am fine, jiji!" He grinned from ear to ear. "As good as new after some good sleep."

The Hokage instantly knew Naruto was hiding something, but he didn't know what, and it wasn't wise to pressure the child. It must be depression because the villagers treated him badly again. "I'm glad to hear that... it's almost dinner time and Sanada-sensei assured me you deserve a good meal instead of hospital food." Sanada knew how much her late friend and her son loved ramen.

"Ichiraku RAMEN!" Naruto cheered.

That night, another secret was made. In the back of his mind, Naruto wondered if the secrets would keep piling up or if he'd ever tell anything to Sandaime again. But if the Hokage and the whole village could keep secrets from him, why not the other way around? He should at least have that much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review!
> 
> I hope I manage to write a make sense conversation between Naruto and Kyuubi, Naruto was much more mature than canon but I think deep down Naruto always is. Kurama is not going to be right away a friend, now he was in a level of reluctant acquittance I guess... at least at this point they have come to an understanding that both are unwilling to be on their position, and as Kushina said, neither of them have any sort of luck as jinchuuriki and imprisoned bijuu.
> 
> Naruto also learned everyone lied to him, and started to think 'it's justified' to keep secret especially if it helps him to survive like Kurama said.
> 
> As for the rattling chain sound, it have meaning but not going to be revealed for now.
> 
> BTW before anyone suggested any pairing, there would be no one paired with Naruto because that have always the sorest topic in Naruto fandom. Romance is not even a topic in this story so forget it. I don't mind side pairing that's already confirmed as canon like AsumaXKurenai, MinatoXKushina and so on though.
> 
> update: dunno what overcome me to forget the most important date in naruto universe...


	3. 3rd Legacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Itachi is ten in this story BTW... at this point of time.

**3rd Legacy: Origin of Legacy**

******_"Uchiha is always the source of trouble and you're one trouble magnet, Naruto!  
To my eternal shame… it's like you and Uchiha are a match made in heaven!"  
_ ** Kurama, Kyuubi no Kitsune.

* * *

Fuuinjutsu was an obscure shinobi art most shinobi did not study extensively due to the research needed to master it. It was also notorious as being one of the most dangerous branches of the shinobi arts to learn. You would think an art that didn't involve physical training – but a brush, ink and paper – was not dangerous. However, it was proved throughout the years as the most accident-prone art. Those who died learning Fuuinjutsu didn't die in the battlefield but in their own workshop. Even a small glob of ink in the wrong place could trigger a dangerous outcome. It's understandable why the Uzumaki clan was one of the few clans specialized in it; they had both the brain and vitality to survive and master the art.

The art was said to have an endless amount possibilities, which was not a stretch of the imagination considering they could contain the most powerful creatures that ever graced mother earth. However, unlike the three main Shinobi arts, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, fuuinjutsu was not an art you could master by forming hand seals and training your ass off. If you survived learning the art by copying what's been done before, you were nothing more than a copier and never a master. Seals were like a machine in the form of ink; thus to create a seal, practitioners had to understand each part and the correlation between them.

Mathematics, chakra theory, and calligraphy were the three basic skills one should achieve first before even thinking about picking up a brush and making their first stroke.

You have to master calligraphy not with flourish but with precision, not with a graceful stroke but a swift one. If a practitioner was a frontline seal master, one stroke could decide life and death.

Chakra was the energy that powered every seal, thus every shinobi who learned fuuinjutsu had to understand the nature of the energy. How it would move, mold, change and so on when flowing through a seal, and how chakra with a certain nature could have different results when channeled, like explode.

Mathematics was an abstract study of topics encompassing quantity, structure, space, and change. This subject was essential to the array of each component of the seal down to its very location. One had to practice step by step to reach a logical conclusion. Mathematical structures were used as models of seal mechanisms. A seal master should use mathematical reasoning to provide insight or predictions about the nature of the seal they were working on.

* * *

Naruto wandered to the academy library, marveling at how it became such a magical place the moment he thirsted for knowledge. He picked a few books of his desired subjects and a few extras, and began to read it one by one. The book was meant for children, which was obvious by how thin it was and how it only just covered basic material, but it still had a lot of information to memorize. Naruto had no delusions he could jam everything in his brain, so he resorted to taking notes to learn it thoroughly later, because he knew he was unwelcomed by the librarian.

At this blatant display of hatred, Naruto wondered when the chuunin librarian was going to snap and throw him out of the library. Not anytime soon, hopefully, because he had no legitimate excuse to do so. So Naruto ignored the stare of the fuming librarian, determined to take notes from at least two books of each subject. He stopped taking notes once he reached his target goal for the day and began to read the extra book about Ninja rank. As he skimmed through the genin section and reached the chuunin section, Naruto couldn't help but frown. There were two ways to be promoted to chuunin: the exam and in field promotion. Both routes required a chuunin to have at least a meager skill in leadership and tactics. He rolled his eyes to the fuming chunin and then back to the book. How could that guy be promoted when he wasn't even being discreet with his glare?

Then again, it was none of his business, Naruto thought as he stood up gathering the books to put them back onto shelves neatly. In the corner of his eyes he saw the chuunin stand up, looking torn between scolding and ignoring him. No doubt the chuunin thought he was trying to pull a prank or was going to damage the academy's precious books. Naruto swiftly left the library with a stack of notes in his backpack allowing the chuunin to check the library thoroughly for any signs of a prank. Which, of course, was just a figment of his imagination and paranoia.

Idiots, Naruto thought. If chuunin were supposed to be as good as the guidebook said, they shouldn't worry about a six-year-old pulling a prank right under their noses.

* * *

 _For two months, chuunins in charge of the academy library were terrorized not by his pranks but by his mere presence in their humble abode,_ Naruto narrated sarcastically in his mind as he began his routine of visiting the library after his class finished.

Two months ago he didn't even understand what sarcasm was, but that was nothing a dictionary couldn't fix. He had asked Tori to help him buy one, because he needed it to understand some big words in the fuuinjutsu manuals. He would have bought it himself if he didn't have to deal with the barely suppressed hostility of the shopkeepers, but had a bad history with bookshops after one of their staff insulted him, and he pranked them as revenge.

He had visited Kurama quite often, but not intentionally at first. It just so happened when he slept, he found himself in the same sewer with the bijuu. He had tried anything he could think of to get in contact with Kurama on his own will, much to Kurama's ire, but his attempts had been in vain. It took one month for Naruto to discover how to connect with the bijuu through meditation, and it had been difficult. It got easier to do with time, and now he could even stay conscious when speaking to Kurama directly from his mind, although, Kurama ignored him most of the time he did. Naruto guessed that was because Kurama was someone who preferred to speak face to face.

Kurama was still not the most sociable bijuu, though Naruto was glad the fox could tolerate his presence at least. While he was not hospitable, Kurama was not against engaging in conversation with Naruto, and that was more than what a majority of people in Konoha had deigned to do. Much to Naruto's delight, Kurama was a fountain of knowledge, and he dared to say the bijuu was even more knowledgeable than the Sandaime. Kurama was an ancient creature after all, born from the hands of Rokudo Sennin himself.

The bijuu had also told him about the Uzumaki clan, and Naruto was very happy to know that his clan specialized in fuuinjutsu. He was saddened Uzu was no more, though. When Naruto asked how Kurama knew about the Uzumaki clan, Kurama had snorted and said, "The Sage of Sixth Path's wife was an Uzumaki." Originally, the Uzumaki clan descended from the Onmyouji line, and they became the first practitioners of fuuinjutsu after the Shinobi era began. This was why Uzumaki was said to be a distant relative of the Senju clan and the Uchihas, though it wasn't acknowledged by the sharingan wielders for some unknown reason.

With all the knowledge Kurama possessed, Naruto had to wonder why his predecessors avoided talking with the bijuu casually. "They don't know what they missed out on!" Naruto said cheerfully when Kurama told him none of his predecessors had ever bothered to listen to him, much less his story.

Naruto was very happy when Kurama didn't refuse to tell the story about the Sage of Six Paths, indulging the jinchuuriki's thirst for knowledge. Then again, after years of confinement with two jinchuuriki who tuned him out, Kurama could appreciate a good listener in Naruto. He was also a much better teacher in history to Naruto than the chuunin in the academy.

Kurama would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. **"My conversation with them was never civil."** In fact, he could count how many times he talked with Mito and Kushina on one paw. They never wanted to speak to him and all he had said to them were taunts in his rage. **"I hated them and they kept me at bay, the feeling was mutual..."**

Naruto's eyes softened at that. "I guess that means I'm special then!" He grinned from ear to ear.

Kurama rolled his eyes. **"Yes, you're the dumbest, too."**

Naruto guessed that was Kurama's trademark of mixed compliments and sarcasm. "Now, Kurama... we're trying to fix that, okay?"

 **"I suppose,"** Kurama grunted. **"Now, where was I last night?"**

"You met Kinkaku and Ginkaku and they challenged you!" Naruto informed the bijuu.

Kurama grunted again, **"Ah yes, those two annoying worms..."**

From his short time knowing the fox, Kurama breathed out sarcasm as naturally as Naruto walk on his two feet. Unlike what Naruto read about Kyuubi in Konoha's history book and other sources, Kyuubi was not a mindless, evil entity bent on destroying the world. But he was definitely not a personification of goodness. Kurama was an intelligent bijuu and had a scathing, sadistic personality. However, he also had a sense of fairness and sarcastic honor. The scathing and sadistic part was a bit unnerving; especially when Kurama explained what he would like to do to Madara and the Shodai for dragging him to their family feud. Thankfully, Kurama had spared him from the too gory details.

However, it seemed Kurama hated Madara at least three times more than he did the Shodaime, and considering what history said about the man, Naruto had to admit that hatred was well placed. Imagine how Kurama had felt when he took a nap in his favorite dwelling only to wake up to Madara insulting and disrespecting him. The man had ranted about how Kurama's fate was as a slave for Madara's 'blessed eyes', and then had dragged him into a fight with the Shodaime Hokage to settle a family feud. In which said feud landed Kurama in his current position.

It was the reason Kurama told Naruto to be cautious of the Uchiha, while silently lamenting about how far the fruit fell from the tree. How the stupid son of his old man procreated a clan of stuck up jerks Kurama didn't know. As far as Kurama was concerned, the descendants of the Old man's stupid son were all a source of trouble.

Naruto had also asked if Kurama knew about his parents, but the fox swiftly answered that he wouldn't tell Naruto anything he did he know. Kurama explained that it wasn't that he couldn't but that he shouldn't. In his opinion, people around Naruto would tell him when the time was right. It was neither Kurama's right nor duty to tell Naruto, especially since he didn't know why information about his parentage was kept secret. Kurama however implied it was a political reason, and as a bijuu he wouldn't get involved in it. Naruto never pried about it after that.

 **"And then I spat them out... I regret not chewing them..."** The bijuu lamented, feeling a bit ill as he recalled the brothers had eaten his gut to survive.

Naruto nodded sagely. "Tori always tells me to chew my food before I swallow."

 **"Naruto, they didn't give me indigestion,"** Kurama grumbled, and Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. **"Fine! They did, but that's not why I regret not chewing them! Next time I'll just have to make sure my food is dead before I swallow it."**

"I'm sure you will…" Naruto said patronizingly.

* * *

Naruto started skipping his Taijutsu lessons, not because he wanted to but because he was forced to. Like any other subject at the academy, the instructor always attempted to sabotage him, but in Taijutsu it was not as subtle. They taught him the wrong way to stretch, even though his older classmates did it a different way. When he questioned them about it, they always said it was the correct way for a child his age.

What a load of bullshit, he thought.

Sparring was the worst because they always pitted him against the strongest students, and then his older classmates were given the impression that it was okay to beat him up in a spar. They were bullies and a spar was a legitimate excuse to beat someone—him—up.

His grades, though, became better because he started paying attention and taking notes. He was no genius in class, but he wasn't the dead last either. They could sabotage his learning all they wanted to now, because he didn't buy their teaching anymore. Which was why they had started to sabotage his taijutsu training three times harder. He was, at first, clueless about the scheming behind his back, but ever since he found out about his jinchuuriki status, he did not wish to indulge them as a punching bag. Let them call him a coward or lazy to their heart's content; he could now use his time for more productive purposes.

Kurama had no intentions of pampering his jinchuuriki by training him, not that the bijuu could anyway considering the difference in their natures, but much to Naruto's delight, Kurama still remembered what they taught in academy to Kushina. Apparently, the bijuu had an almost photographic memory.

Since Kurama was well… Kurama, all he said was, **"Back then, they trained kids to increase their stamina and develop flexibility before teaching any taijutsu kata. That's it, go figure out the rest yourself."**

That was all Naruto needed to know, because he then went to the library and took notes about increasing stamina and flexibility. He wished he could have brought the book home, but the librarian was already so high-strung by his mere presence in library, and Naruto had no intentions of testing what the chunin would do if he dared to approach the counter to check it out.

Tori was exasperated by his decision to keep skipping taijutsu classes, but nothing he said could convince Naruto. The ANBU squad had witnessed what was happening, and they had to agree that class was too counter-productive to endure for attendance's sake. Naruto asked them to keep it a secret from Sandaime with the excuse of not wanting to trouble the Hokage because he looked so busy lately. They couldn't refute that since Sandaime was in a lot of political pressure lately. If Naruto could be so considerate for their Hokage, who were they to not do the same?

Unfortunately, shinobi couldn't teach academy students without legal permission, but they could always give Naruto pointers and prevent him from accidentally injuring himself. Naruto was thankful for that, especially since Kurama had made it clear he didn't want to heal sprains caused by a mistake in stretching.

Naruto hoped this would be the end of his problem in the academy.

* * *

**One week later**

"And so, that concludes the battle between the Shodai Hokage and Uchiha Madara that created the vast crater that is now known as The Valley of The End." Naruto was reciting what Kurama had said about the petty family feud he'd been dragged into, omitting some gory parts and the insults. Naruto looked up from his essay, and was greeted by the dumbstruck face of his teacher and the rest of the class.

The chuunin was so pale it looked like he was going to faint. Naruto groaned inwardly. It seemed he had just flunked history class. Why did he always feel like he was walking on a tightrope in school? The chuunin was probably thinking Naruto could never write a detailed essay like that, because he hadn't lived through it. He had been so careful trying to write the essay with information that could be taken from the available history books, though he had borrowed Kurama's narrative style since the fox was such a good storyteller.

Then again, the thought of Kyuubi writing an essay about Shodaime and Madara was absurd. Why the chuunin could ever believe that for a moment was beyond him. Kurama was right, there were too many idiots in this village.

Sooner or later he would have to fake his mark in every subject… what was the point of going to school at this rate?! Naruto walked out of the school with a heavy heart, and went to the forest near the Uchiha compound. His mood brightened at the sight of a gigantic oak tree, his favorite place. Kurama had told him in a disgusted tone that the tree was a historical living monument, grown by the Shodaime as a sign of friendship for the Uchiha clan. If one looked closely at the peak of its trunk, a faint carving of the Uchiha and Senju crest could be seen.

He liked to sleep on its thick branch, under its lush leaves. The atmosphere was soothing and it always calmed his mind. It was his favorite past time to relax and reread his notes there. Naruto climbed the tree swiftly, using chakra so his limbs would stick to the surface. Naruto was still trying to improve his tree walking, but slow progress was better than nothing.

"Haah…" he heaved the sigh as he pushed himself up to his favorite branch. "School sucks," he grumbled under his breath as he pulled his notes from his backpack. He leaned against the trunk using his backpack as a replacement pillow.

The jinchuuriki opened his fuuinjustsu notebook, which was the thickest one he had compiled. He had found some samples of standard seals and was in the process of breaking it down into specific components so he could study its mechanics. It was easy to take a sample of the tags from a shop when the owner was serving another customer, and since it was drawn with normal ink and not chakra ink, it wouldn't explode.

Naruto was pondering over the sample flash tag when a voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Good afternoon."

He flailed his arms out, almost losing his balance, and accidentally knocked his backpack over. He quickly grabbed it, but the contents poured over the newcomer that greeted him. Naruto watched in abject horror as his history essay homework fell right above the newcomer's head. While it was just a pile of papers, the height the pile was dropped at was enough to do damage to someone's skull.

The newcomer caught the book in midair calmly and without even looking, and Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief. He then gasped when he saw it was raining papers. He had accidentally knocked over the stack of notes he put beside him! Naruto would have come down in a heartbeat to retrieve his notes, but when the stranger bent over to pick up the papers, he revealed the Uchiha symbol on his back causing him to freeze up.

An Uchiha?!

Soon after he found out about Kyuubi, Naruto had started to pick up things he hadn't notice before. The village, or at least the Shinobi population and a minority of the civilians ostracized the Uchiha clan. It was not the outright staring or shunning they did to him, but he could tell they eyed the Uchiha clan cautiously. It was as though they thought the clan would kill them in their sleep, and it was easy to guess why; after all it was a well-known fact bijuu could only be controlled by an Uchiha, a Mokuton user, or a jinchuuriki. Which also explained why the clan avoided him like plague. In fact, he rarely saw an Uchiha walk on the same street as him.

And yet this Uchiha had approached and talked to him… was this guy crazy? No good, no good… he chanted in his mind as he sweated profusely. Why had he asked Tori and his team to leave him alone for a while? He had even promised them he wouldn't get into trouble. Then again, he had thought no one would find him here, yet this guy had walked right up to him. It took all his will power to not just bolt and get the hell away.

Naruto had nothing against the Uchiha clan personally, but Kurama's rant about how they were the harbingers of doom who wasted his old man's good gene was not helping. Kurama was also very certain that not being alert around the doujutsu bearing clan would kill him in the end. It was enough to put Naruto on edge whenever he spotted an Uchiha nearby.

Naruto was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the Uchiha was reading his history essay. The jinchuuriki blinked when he heard the sound of papers ruffling and saw that Uchiha was reading his homework. "A-ah!" he pointed at the dark haired Uchiha, "Oi! Don't read someone else's stuff without permission!"

The Uchiha looked up from his reading to eye Naruto curiously. Naruto stared right back at the Uchiha. He was older than Naruto, but still a young Uchiha with onyx eyes, black hair with bangs that framed his face, and a low-tied ponytail. There was also a distinct line under each of his eyes that made him looked slightly older than his age.

"My apologies," the Uchiha said. "I'm interested in history, especially about our village, and your essay is a very interesting read." Naruto raised an eyebrow, and after a beat the Uchiha added, "It's enlightening."

Naruto stared at the Uchiha in disbelief, and mentally asked his tenant, _'Kurama, is this guy for real? What should I do?'_

 ** _'You're asking me?! How should I know? My routine when I see an Uchiha is maim, kill, or eat,'_** Kurama griped.

Naruto sighed. _'Advice for a human, please.'_

Kurama groaned. ** _'How could you run into an Uchiha here anyway?'_**

Naruto rolled his eyes inwardly. _'This forest is near their compound, although it's in another area opposite of this place.'_

 ** _'True, but still… how likely is it that an Uchiha stumbles upon you in such a big forest?'_** Kurama wondered with a sigh. **_'Uchiha are always the source of trouble and you're one trouble magnet, Naruto. To my eternal shame… it's like you and the Uchihas are a match made in heaven!'_**

 _'Is this REALLY the time to be sarcastic Kurama?!'_ Naruto asked internally, gritting his teeth. Naruto smiled sheepishly at the Uchiha. "Excuse me, but could you give me my essay and notes back?" The Uchiha nodded curtly and Naruto almost sighed in relief, but held his breath when the Uchiha started walking up the tree. "Waaa! Wait! Wait!" He had thought the older boy was going to just leave his stuff on the ground and go away, not come closer.

The Uchiha ignored his plea and jumped onto the branch Naruto occupied. He crouched down and then put the essay and notes in front of Naruto in a neat stack. "Here." Naruto rubbed his throbbing cranium and then looked around the surrounding area, sniffing the air. The Uchiha's lips curved up at him. "There's no one around for at least a three mile radius, Uzumaki Naruto-kun."

Naruto took his notes and essay back hesitantly, eyes never leaving the Uchiha as he put his stuff back into his backpack. "Do I know you?" he asked.

"Ah, my apologies." Again with the apologies, what a weird Uchiha, Naruto thought. "My name is Uchiha Itachi."

Great! The prodigy of the Uchiha clan himself and no one in a three mile radius! Wonderful! He ignored Kurama's praise about Naruto becoming a master in the art of sarcasm. Naruto was too busy wondering if the Uchiha was planning to kill him. "You know who I am right?"

"I believe I just called you by your full name, Naruto-kun," Itachi informed the jinchuuriki.

Naruto's left eye twitched, and he wondered if Itachi was being sarcastic or just pointing out facts. "Right…" he drawled, and then decided to bite the bullet. "Why're you talking to me, Uchiha-san?"

Itachi eyed Naruto keenly, and Naruto averted his eyes. "Do I need a reason?" he asked back.

"Uchiha-san," Naruto called. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, and I have seen members of your clan turn on their heels whenever I was in their vicinity." He might as well tell the prodigy he was well aware of the Uchiha clan's behavior around him. "I thought you were going to do the same."

The heir of the Uchiha clan smiled at that. "… You're more perceptive than the rumors state," Itachi said after a beat, "or my clan is not as subtle as I thought."

"A mix of both actually." Why he indulged the Uchiha by continuing on with the conversation was beyond him, but it was unlikely he would get away anytime soon. "Sometimes, even ninja won't be subtle when they don't know they're being watched."

"Hn…"

"I still remember you haven't answered my question about why you didn't avoid me like the rest of your clan," Naruto informed Itachi in an annoyed tone, "and I would like an answer soon."

Itachi looked amused by Naruto's words. "Exception proves the rule… "

Naruto groaned. "Okay… seriously, what do you want, Uchiha-san?" Kurama was getting restless in his cage, screaming at his jinchuuriki to get the hell away from the bastard Uchiha. "Can I leave now?"

"Why would you want to leave?" Itachi questioned back.

This was getting nowhere; the prodigy was leading him on. "Your lack of answer makes me nervous." Screw subtlety; mind games weren't his forte.

Itachi's lips curved up into a small smile, which caught Naruto off guard. "Would you believe me if I said I'm interested in your essay?" he asked genially, much to Naruto's shock.

Naruto blinked owlishly. "My essay? What's so interesting about it?" he asked warily. "You're an active ninja, and that essay is written by an academy student."

Itachi sniffed. "It's still better than what I read in standard history books. It's very detailed, too…"

Naruto was torn between feeling flattered someone thought his writing was good, and horrified Itachi might think he was the Kyuubi. "Eh… thank you, so…" he trailed off as he fished his essay from his backpack. "You want it?" he offered as he handed the essay over. In the back of his mind Kurama was rolling in his cage, laughing that Naruto thought Itachi would leave him alone if he gave the older boy his essay.

Itachi blinked owlishly at the offer. "Can I?"

Naruto nodded, "It's already graded and I have another copy at home," he replied sincerely as Itachi accepted the neatly folded paper.

Itachi gave him a curt nod, his eyes scanning the paper curiously. "Thank you," he said as he looked up only to find Naruto had disappeared. All that was left was paper floating in front of his face. He raised an eyebrow when he read the title of it. "Mathematic application in fuuinjutsu?" Itachi looked to the side and found Naruto was running like his life depended on it.

Naruto was jumping through the branches and thick foliage, hoping the Uchiha was not going to… "Wait, Naruto-kun!"

Oh shit! Naruto's mind went haywire, and Kurama jokingly chanting 'run for your life' in the back of his mind was not helping either. Naruto moved faster, caution thrown to the wind as branches broke under his feet from the increased speed. Itachi had to take a different route than the one Naruto used because the younger destroyed it.

"You left something!" Itachi shouted. He could go faster and simply catch the younger boy, but it was obvious Naruto was terrified of him for some reason and doing so would risk him harming Naruto accidentally.

Naruto's left eye twitched violently when he heard what Itachi said. Who was going to buy that?! As soon as he reached the border of the forest he shouted, "TORI!"

The ANBU was almost knocked off of his feet, because the moment he appeared with shushin Naruto tackled him. "Oof!"

"Tori! Save me!" Okay, not the smartest thing he had ever said, but he was too terrified to think otherwise.

Tori raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha heir who shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay… Itachi-kun, what's going on here?" Itachi was a fresh chuunin that had been considered for a place on his squad, so he knew who the prodigy was.

"I just wanted to return this to him, that's all," the Uchiha heir replied honestly, pulling out a sheet of paper with neat handwriting to show the ANBU.

Tori sighed and looked at the trembling child in his arms. "I feel this is a long story Hokage-sama would like to hear."

* * *

The Sandaime rubbed his throbbing cranium as his eyes rested briefly on Itachi, who looked as stoic as ever, then to the ANBU squad he had assigned to guard Naruto, and lastly to Naruto who was hiding behind Tori's legs, clinging onto the ANBU's pants as though his life depended on it. It had been a while since Naruto had been reduced to that state. The last time was when the boy was four and had believed the orphanage matron when she'd said there was a monster under his bed.

"So… it's all a misunderstanding?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked as he quirked an eyebrow at the Uchiha scion.

"Yes, Hokage-same." Then he turned to the still hidden Naruto and showed the boy the paper he found. "And I believe this is yours, Naruto-kun."

Naruto eyed the paper longingly, then looked at Tori and the Sandaime. "Uh…"

Sandaime sighed. "Itachi-kun, can you tell me the more detailed version? Because stumbling upon Naruto-kun and having a brief chat with him when he suddenly runs away doesn't explain much…" he said in exasperation. Well, he had asked for a brief report.

Itachi stiffened then shifted a little. "Hokage-sama, I'm afraid it's not my story to tell if you want the details of our conversation…"

Sandaime Hokage narrowed his eyes at Itachi then at Naruto. It seemed both of them wanted to keep the conversation a secret. "Very well…" He pushed a small amount of chakra into a hidden seal near the window. "Anything said here will not leave this room."

Naruto stared at the seal that glowed briefly a moment ago. So that's how privacy seals worked! "Naruto-kun," The young jinchuuriki jumped when the Uchiha called him, "do you mind if we tell Hokage-sama what happened?" he asked.

The young jinchuuriki flinched, wondering why Itachi even bothered to ask. He couldn't decide if the conversation was a harmless topic or not, so decided to give in and avoid suspicion. He had kept too many secrets from Sandaime-jiichan anyway. "I don't mind…" He'd calmed down with the presence of familiar people around him. It was just he'd never been alone with a potentially hostile stranger (that he knew of), which was why he'd panicked.

Itachi smiled at that. "For starters, I did stumble upon Naruto who was sitting on a branch of a gigantic oak tree in the forest."

Sandaime raised an eyebrow, "Gigantic Oak tree in the North forest? There's such a tree?" Konoha, just like her namesake, was full of lush forests, and though a majority of gigantic trees grew in training ground 44, some were scattered all over Konoha. Most of the tree species were Pine, Cedar and Yew but never an Oak. Shodaime grew trees about as often as breathing, so no one ever bothered to keep track of them all.

Naruto nodded as he stepped forward. "Yūjō no Ki, you know… the tree Shodaime gave to the Uchiha clan as a gift."

A spell of silence hung in the air as all eyes stared at Naruto. Even the stoic Uchiha Itachi stared at him with no small amount of incredulity. It was Sandaime who broke the silence. "There's such a tree?"

"Eh?" Naruto had a very bad feeling he had just dropped a bomb with his trivia. Neither Kurama nor Naruto knew that said tree had been forgotten about in the Nidaime's era after the relationship between the two clans became sour once again, which was why not even Sandaime knew about the tree.

"Never mind," Sandaime sighed. "So what were you talking about?"

Itachi turned his focus back to the Hokage then answered. "Naruto-kun's history essay," he said as he put the folded paper on the Hokage's desk. "It's very good, and he was kind enough to give it to me."

Naruto shifted on his feet when Sandaime unfolded the paper and began to read his essay. "It's very good as you said, Itachi-kun."

Good enough to impress the Uchiha scion, Sandaime noted amusedly. Itachi had always been a highly perceptive child wise beyond his years and spent much of his time researching the history of the village from the writings their ancestors left behind. While the essay was good and interesting to read, Sandaime was convinced that it wasn't the content that made Itachi interested but the _disturbingly_ detailed narrative style it was in. While everything written in the essay could be found in history books, the way Naruto narrated it made it feel like he was watching the event with his own eyes, or at least heard it from someone who experienced the battle firsthand.

"That didn't explain why Naruto-kun ran away from you and gave you his essay," the Hokage continued, eyeing the prodigy as he searched for a sign of dishonesty.

Itachi shrugged. "I think it served as a diversion for his escape." Naruto cringed at how obvious he'd been. Itachi, on the other hand, was resigned about telling the Hokage the truth. "Why he ran… That's probably because he is aware of how my clan avoids him and was pretty unnerved when I approached him."

Naruto flinched at the attention that centered on him. "Uhm well… I know I'm not well-liked, but only Uchihas turn on their heels whenever they see me." He fidgeted. "And he…" he looked pointedly at Itachi, "approached me… and he even talked to me civilly so… I was getting cautious and nervous."

Sandaime and the ANBU members cringed inwardly at Naruto's innocent confession. All this time they'd been under the impression Naruto was very trusting and friendly to anyone who gave him even a shred of attention, yet it seemed they had been wrong.

"I'm sorry I ran away, Uchiha-san," Naruto said as he gave Itachi a low bow. "I'm just not used to strangers…" At least, not since he'd found out about Kurama and his status. "I didn't mean to be rude…"

Itachi shook his head. "You don't have to apologize, being vigilant and cautious are good traits for Shinobi." Naruto preened under the compliment. No matter what Kurama said about Uchihas, Itachi sounded sincere. "And I believe I should return this."

"But before that," Hokage interrupted their exchange, partially relieved the misunderstanding was solved. "Can I see that paper?"

Naruto blanched, but there was nothing he could do. He gave Itachi a reluctant nod to hand the paper over to Sandaime. _Busted._

Sandaime's eyes widened when he saw what was written on the paper; it was basic research on Fuuinjutsu, but very elaborate and intelligible. "Hoo, you're learning fuuinjutsu, Naruto-kun?" He was definitely his parent's child, a budding fuuinjutsu prodigy.

Naruto nodded wordlessly. "Can I see your other notes?"

Much to everyones shock, Naruto backed away like a frightened rabbit and hugged his backpack protectively. "Naruto-kun?" Tori said worriedly. He couldn't recall Naruto being so possessive over something aside from ramen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen chukled softly, he had almost forgotten how protective and private the practitioner of the obscure art could be of their research, and how much they hated someone to take a peek at their notes. Jiraiya had almost punched him in the jaw when he insisted on peering over his disciple's shoulder when he wrote his notes out of curiosity. If the stories about what Minato and Kushina did to anyone who dared to take a peek on their notes without permission were true… Sandaime mentally noted to warn Naruto's future teammates about proper conduct of privacy for fuuinjutsu practitioner.

Kurama groaned in his cage as he watched his jinchuuriki's behavior. The Uzumaki always acted like mama bears protecting their cubs when it came to their research. It was an Uzumaki thing, though anyone who was taught by Uzumaki also acted like Jiraiya and Minato. Naruto was only just about to finish his research on basic study, and already he was this protective. Kurama didn't even want to know what Naruto would do if someone dared to look at his personal seal research without permission in the future. Maybe the only mistakes old man Rokudo ever did was procreating Uchiha-Senju and marrying that Uzumaki woman.

"Naruto-kun, I will return your notes… and I will be careful with it," Sandaime promised.

Naruto looked hesitant for a moment, then he gingerly approached Sandaime's desk and tiptoed to put his notes on it. "Here, jii-chan."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Sandaime smiled at the child as he carefully flipped the pages. "Hoo… impressive. You're a budding prodigy in fuuinjutsu, Naruto-kun."

Naruto preened under the praise. "Really?!" He beamed, giving a mental nod to Kurama when the fox reminded him to stay vigilant.

"You have grown to be such a knowledgeable child, Naruto… "

"Heh heh… I read a lot," Naruto admitted not so modestly.

"Ah yes…" Sandaime nodded sagely as he gave Naruto his notes back. "And you even know about Yūjō no Ki; something I didn't even know about. Where did you read it?"

Naruto froze in his tracks. _'Kurama, why doesn't jii-chan know about that tree?'_

The fox snorted, **_'probably because peace between the Uchihas and Senjus didn't last long, so the tree, of course… was forgotten…'_**

 _'Then what should I say? I can't tell them you told me!'_ Naruto lamented, but Kurama didn't answer, so he was left to his own devices. Naruto smiled as he recalled what he found on the same day he climbed the tree for the first time. "Heh heh heh…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm just guessing actually." Sandaime raised an eyebrow. "Eh, on the top of the tree there's a carving of the Senju and Uchiha crest. Above it is Konoha's crest with the word Yūjō written. And since the tree is sooooo big, much bigger than a normal tree… so I thought only the Shodaime could grow it out!" Even if the Hokage sent his ninjas out to check, the story would fit since there was such a carving.

"Hoo…" The Sandaime nodded sagely. It seemed he was over thinking Naruto's resourcefulness. "Well done, Naruto-kun. You've found a precious monument… a legacy from our Shodaime." He mentally noted to issue a D rank to build a nice shiny signage and put sacred rope around the tree.

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, jii-chan!" he said as he checked his notes, and then rechecked to make sure it was placed properly, blissfully unaware of the sad look on the Sandaime's face. It seemed Naruto didn't trust him.

Then again, it was pretty normal for those who descended from the Uzumaki line. Sandaime sighed wearily, "Naruto-kun, while it's fine to learn new things, it's frowned upon that you neglect your other subjects in school." Naruto shifted guiltily on his feet. "You've skipped all your taijutsu classes, and your marks, which became better last month, have dropped again…" Sandaime said wearily. "What can you say in your defense?"

"Uhm… I…" Much to Naruto's relief, Tori stepped foreward.

"Hokage-sama, may I voice my opinion?" He asked cordially.

Sandaime nodded, "I'm all ears, Tori."

The ANBU cleared his throat. "From my observations, Naruto-kun is not suited to the current curriculum of our academy," He stated sternly, and the boy stared openly at the bird masked ANBU. "Most of the classes are counterproductive to Naruto-kun's development, and the instructors are not…" The ANBU trailed off, looking for a fitting word. "Proficient… in dealing with a student like him."

The Hokage flinched inwardly at the subtle way his ANBU phrased the predicament. "Then please explain to me what kind of student Naruto-kun is, and how we should provide him with a 'suitable' tutelage."

Tori grinned under his mask. "Naruto-kun is a very talented child, and if we keep him in the academy, it would just curb his potential…" Then after a beat he added, "Naruto-kun has shown a remarkable aptitude for fuuinjutsu, a field of study that unfortunately… is not provided in the academy. And we all know what an invaluable asset a fuuinjutsu practitioner is…"

Sandaime nodded sagely in agreement, the main defense mechanism of Konoha was the legacy of Uzumaki Mito, and she was the best practitioner in her generation. Jiraiya, Minato and Kushina were seal masters and the key players in previous wars, with the first traveling to maintain their spy network and the latters passed away, Konoha was down to mid-level practitioners who maintained Konoha's barrier and the defense mechanism Mito-sama left them. It was hard to nurture a talented seal master due to the high risk in learning and difficulties.

"Naruto-kun's potential as a fuuinjutsu practitioner should be utilized… It's an asset Konoha can't afford to lose," Tori stated with conviction. "That alone should give him some privilege to further his studies in seals and other Shinobi arts."

The old Hokage held back a grin. Someone deserved a promotion for exploiting a loophole so as to give Naruto his education. Konoha had given many privileges to prodigies, though most of the time it was early graduation, like the one granted to Itachi, so the prodigy could gain field experience sooner. However, in Naruto's case, he was known as a prodigy in only certain field.

"I see… Naruto-kun." The boy perked up at the Hokage, elated he was once again included in the conversation. "You will spend the rest of this year in academy. And no more skipping classes…" Naruto cringed at Sandaime's warning. "I will talk with the academy's instructors about your circumstances…" If everything went smoothly, no instructor would refuse to help Naruto anymore. In fact, they would be eager to help, or at least neutral. "By the end of the year, I would like to see progress in the shinobi arts, especially fuuinjutsu."

Naruto nodded again, "Hai."

"Especially fuuinjutsu," the Sandaime repeated. "If you continue to make the same progress I have seen from your notes, you will be granted the privilege of an apprenticeship."

Naruto gaped at that. "Apprenticeship? What about the academy?"

The Hokage smiled at that. "You won't be required to attend it anymore… " Which would make the instructors happy that they didn't have to deal with Naruto anymore. "You will be considered graduated, but you won't be granted genin status until your master deems you genin level in the shinobi arts overall," the Sandaime finished his explanation, and as soon as the last world left his mouth, Naruto tackled him in a bear hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto chanted happily then he kissed the Sandaime's cheeks fervently. "I love you, Hokage-jiichan! You're the best!"

Sandaime chuckled softly as he ruffled Naruto's spiky hair. "Yes, I am… but remember, it's you who has to work hard to earn these privileges."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, Jii-chan! I'll work hard!" he said as he released his hug, jumping backwards to land in front of the Hokage's desk. Naruto stood suddenly and bowed to the Sandaime with respect. "Hokage-sama, I thank you for giving me this opportunity. I promise to dedicate myself to fuuinjutsu and other Shinobi arts, so that I will not betray your expectations."

Sandaime looked at Naruto in surprise, startled to see such a mature, eloquent speech coming from a six-year-old kid. Even Tori looked surprised and proud under his mask, while Itachi observed his fellow prodigy attentively.

The old kage shook his head with an amused smiled on his face. It seemed they had underestimated Naruto a bit too much. "I'm looking forward to it, Naruto-kun…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that wrap up the third chapter nicely, hopefully you like it and will review for me!
> 
> Naruto in this fic is 2 years earlier than Rookie 9 to enter academy, which is the only explanation I can think of that feasible to make him graduate together with students his age in canon. So at this point he already in his second year of academy, since he entered at 5.
> 
> Naruto at this point of time is secretive and cautious after he find out about his status, while maybe you would think the feeling of betrayed by HOkage is not eye-opener enough to make such a fast and drastic change... This is a kid we're talking about, one who ostracized for his whole life to boot. I just think kids in his situation will not trust easily anymore, and start to think anyone might be out to get him. He also come to depend on Kurama a lot and trusting the fox' judgement when it comes to surviving the society. It's not like he agree with Kurama in everything per se, but both of them have come to an agreement of 'better be careful than sorry' way of thinking.
> 
> Please note you can't expect fast update to go on forever... it's just easier to write early chapters for now :) But I promise I won't abandoned my story, the update will be slower but not neglected. Review shall serve as motivation!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW in case no one noticed, academy probably starts in April like normal schools in Japan. This story started on late August, so by their academy year lasts for 7-8 months. Eh... Naruto is 7 now, coincidentally graduating the same age as Itachi. Though he is not a genin yet, he graduated nonetheless.  
> It made me wonder how the hell Kakashi graduated at 5 DX  
> It seems whenever the village is in a war footing or at least the generation before Naruto's, ninja graduate early, or maybe graduating at 10 considered to be average in Minato's generation.
> 
> 4th Legacy: Prodigy and Paranoia
> 
> Beta-ed by garoorar

_**"You're someone who has seen how foolish humans become when consumed by hatred."  
** _ __ Uchiha Itachi   


Naruto woke up with cold sweat drenching his whole body. He quickly gathered himself and moaned at his current state. He had to do his laundry twice a week at the rate he was using up his shirts whenever he woke up like this. He once contemplated sleeping naked but that's not an option in autumn, it may not be as cold as winter but it is still cold nonetheless.

He knew he was still a child, and to be haunted by nightmares is normal for children like him. But Naruto wanted to act like a mature boy, since whenever he acted mature the Sandaime would listen to him more, and so does the rest of his ANBU guards. All the times he acted as a brash and loud boy was simply to attract attention of villagers, but he realized that lately he cared more for the attention of the few people who acknowledged him.

So telling them about his nightmare was a big NO-NO! Especially if there is a chance that they might think that he was not mature enough after all and therefore not ready to graduate early… NO way in hell. Not to mention it was not a dream he could simply tell to anyone.

The dream was always the same, amidst the sound of rattling chains he saw a blond baby who he recognized as himself due to the whisker like marks on his face. He was cradled not by one but two pairs of arms, warm and loving. But there was so much blood and he cried as hard as he could to no avail as the warm cradle became colder and colder. He also saw a massive claw, one he knew so well, which belonged to Kurama. He had cried himself hoarse when he realized what he was seeing, or at least what he thought he was seeing. The scene of his parents impaled in Kurama's claw. The scene of his parent's dying from Kurama who was under someone else's control.

"I had parents..." He whispered to himself. Anyone else would feel incredulous hearing him utter those words. Of course everyone had parents who gave birth to them. However to a boy who has been orphaned for so long, the concept of having loving parents was foreign.

Ironically enough, Kurama seemed to understand the concept better than him, since to Kurama, the Sage of Six Paths was a father to the fox and the other bijuus. Thus this dream was something he never told Kurama, and the fox never asked either. Naruto had forgiven Kurama for his parent's death, and that forgiveness was something he didn't have to say out loud. Both of them had come to an unspoken agreement of the forgiveness exchanged between them, it was mutual.

* * *

Since then, academy instructors started to leave him alone, which for him was much better than the sabotage he once endured. It seemed that they really wanted him to get out of their hair as soon as possible, and Naruto wanted the same. At least for now the academy was the least of his problems. All he needed to do was do his best to get that apprenticeship right and he'll be out of the academy. So Naruto poured all of his efforts to do his best for the rest of the year to further his studies in every field. He really was not required to be the best in practice in other fields aside from Fuuinjutsu so he could still work on his own pace in theory and focus in his chosen field.

Much to Naruto's delight the Sandaime gave him his full support, and even went as far as to give his old books for Naruto as a birthday present.

Tori warned Naruto about his naturally large chakra reserves and suggested that he start to learn chakra control exercises early on, because if he didn't he would be bound to screw up in chakra sensitive techniques. So Naruto started to squeeze in tree climbing and water walking in his already heavily packed schedule. While life was good for Naruto, he noticeably started to distance himself from his classmates. If before he kept trying to get their attention, now he was too busy with his studies that he completely neglected his already nonexistent social life with his peers.

It was worrying the Sandaime, but he couldn't blame Naruto for focusing in his studies. Then again it seemed that Naruto had given up on trying to form any friendships with his classmates, all the boy could think about was getting out of the academy and fulfilling the Sandaime's expectation. Naruto still called him jii-chan from time to time but whenever they talked about his apprenticeship Naruto would switch to Hokage-sama. He had no idea where Naruto learned how to act professional and awkwardly mature at times, but it was obvious that Naruto tried to adapt speaking like this with his most frequent companions, which consisted of the Hokage, the Ichiraku family and his ANBU detail. But it was not healthy for a boy his age to only socialize with adults, and ANBU shouldn't be Naruto's most frequent companions. The Sandaime brought this topic up with the ANBU squad he assigned to protect Naruto, and thankfully they had a solution. Hopefully Naruto could bond with someone around his age before he graduated and completely cut himself off from his peers in pursuit of knowledge.

Naruto was becoming too much like Orochimaru for his comfort.

While the Sandaime was worrying over his nonexistent social life, Naruto was over the moon with each passing week that put him closer to his dream. With his latest report to the Hokage about his studies, it was almost a sealed deal that by the end of academy year he would be introduced to a seal master to be apprenticed. Life was good, however there was one problem still hanging over his head.

Namely Uchiha Itachi, the scion of Uchiha clan who had been a constant companion of his for the last few weeks. It was not like the Uchiha heir treated him badly, it was actually the opposite. Uchiha Itachi was trying to be his friend, or at least he thought that was what the older boy had been attempting in the last few weeks.

Naruto eyed the Uchiha who had occupied his favorite haunt, namely the branches of the Yūjō no Ki. The tree had become a sacred monument of Konoha but the Sandaime allowed him to use the said tree, as long as he took a good care of it. The tree was so old it was imbued by Hashirama's chakra, and those who knew the man would have felt it. It was actually one of the reasons why they allowed him to use the precious monument, hoping to calm the bijuu and lessening the risk of escape. Fortunately for them it works somewhat, but not for the reasons they suspect. Kurama didn't like the tree but it soothed him, not because of Hashirama's chakra but because he inherited his ancestor's body thus to bijuu, Hashirama's tree had some sort lingering scent of their creator. Like how a child would feel safe and comforted by something with their mother's scent.

"Uhm... good afternoon Uchiha-san." He rarely called someone with their proper honorifics, since to him it was a sign of unfamiliarity. He was still wary of the Uchiha but he was willing to give Itachi the benefit of doubt. After all it was partially thanks to Itachi that he got a chance to prove himself.

"Just call me Itachi." The prodigy suggested as Naruto pushed himself up to sit on the branch. "You can add senpai if you insist on calling me with honorifics."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, "Okay... Itachi-senpai."

For some reason he couldn't comprehend why Itachi started visiting the Yūjō no Ki around same time he did. There were not much words exchanged between them. Itachi would come out of nowhere, greet him politely then ask about his day in the academy. Greetings he would return with a curt nod and same amount of politeness.

Eventually, the Uchiha scion started bringing him treats, and not just candy kind but Japanese sweets like dango, youkan, mochi, etc. Naruto couldn't recall just when Itachi started sitting beside him in the same branch of Yūjō no Ki, eating Japanese sweets and drinking green tea.

Unless Itachi was on mission he always arrived at the same time in the afternoon at 4PM, and only stays for twenty minutes tops. The topics of their conversations were light and would shift from the weather to the taste of sweets and exchange of greetings. It was like they're maintaining some sort of status quo.

A status quo both Naruto and Kurama were running out patience for, especially when Tori not so subtly implied that the ANBU squad allowed Itachi to keep him company whenever he visited the tree. Apparently they were worried about his lack of friends, and thought Itachi would be good for him. The Uchiha heir had a younger brother Naruto's age, and while Itachi was four years older than him, he too was still considered a kid like Naruto. He was also a prodigy, and they thought he could relate to Naruto.

They arranged for him to have a _play dates_ with Uchiha Itachi! Imagine that!  
Kurama was throwing tantrums on his cage, and demanded him to stop visiting the damn tree. Naruto pointed out they had no choice, because unless Kurama could think of a reasonable excuse to give to Tori, it would be too suspicious for someone as lonely as he was to reject company. Not to mention Naruto somewhat felt guilty for his behavior towards the young heir in their first encounter. In short there was no way out for him but to endure the play dates.

* * *

At the start of third week of their somewhat awkward afternoon routine, Naruto found the Uchiha heir waiting for him in the same branch _again._ As usual the Uchiha was sitting on the branch in a lotus position, a small package of sweets and a thermos of green tea by his side. He looked as serene as ever and was patiently waiting for Naruto's arrival. It made Naruto wonder if this guy didn't have better things to do. Wasn't he a newly recruited ANBU?! Then again, he was part of Tori's squad, so accompanying Naruto was probably part of his job. He could always appreciate a company, but not from an enigma like Itachi. He couldn't put a finger on what kind of person Itachi was, and he wondered if he wanted to know the Uchiha at all.

"Good afternoon Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, "Itachi-senpai, were you waiting for me?" He asked as he pushed himself to stand on the thick branch.

Itachi nodded, "Yes, I wish to speak to you… It's important."

"..." Naruto was not used to feeling surprised. He was the one who always takes everyone by surprise after all. Then again this was the famed prodigious scion of Uchiha; he thought that he would be the one to confront Itachi to know the older boy's true objectives in approaching him but Itachi beat him to it. "What would you like to talk about?" Naruto asked politely.

"You don't have to be so formal with me Naruto-kun, you're even less formal with Hokage-sama than you are to me." Itachi pointed out sternly.

Naruto shrugged, "Fine senpai, but I am still at a loss as to why you even want to talk with someone like me."

"It is someone _like you_ that I want to talk with." Itachi replied swiftly.

The jinchuuriki raised an eyebrow at Itachi, "Like what?!"

"You're someone who has seen how foolish humans become when consumed by hatred." Itachi told the younger boy bluntly.

Naruto's eyes went wide as he suddenly stood, and then he unconsciously took a step back from Itachi. Then he burst to a fit of laughter, "Wow! Nice one, senpai! You have a flair for theatrics! Is it an Uchiha art? Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"…"

"Ha ha ha!" Naruto continued to forcibly laugh.

"…"

"Ha ha ha ha…"

"Hn."

_'This is getting ridiculous! What this guy is up to?!'_

_**'I heard that, this Uchiha is sharp damn it.'**_ Kurama cursed. _**'Don't let him to take the reins in this conversation, or better yet… ditch him.'**_ The bijuu suggested helpfully.

He groaned inwardly, _'I will look too suspicious if I did it again! Better get him to spill now then dragging it on!'_

 _ **'Whatever~ I will take a nap, go learn how to deal with an Uchiha by yourself but keep your head where it belongs.'**_ And with that Kurama went back to sleep, keeping an eye open just in case his jinchuuriki screwed up.

Naruto snapped at the older boy, "Get to the point! Screw subtlety! Mind games are not my forte! I am seven!" He shouted at Itachi, pointing an accusing finger at the Uchiha's scion.

"I am not playing mind games with you Naruto-kun." Itachi assured the younger boy.

Naruto slumped back to his sitting position, "Fine! I just don't have the patience for talking in circles." The young jinchuuriki stated with a huff, "Are you implying that I know 'why' they hate me?" Now it was his turn to be as blunt as a rampaging Rhino, giving the Uchiha a taste of his own medicine.

Itachi's eyes widened for a moment before he schooled his stoic face back. "I see…"

It seemed Naruto had found out about his jinchuuriki status from some source. Then again it was not that much a stretch of the imagination since wherever went, whispers about demons and the kyuubi followed the child like a plague. Naruto had an aptitude for Fuuinjutsu, a branch of study that requires perceptiveness, so it won't be impossible for the child to put two and two together. Especially once he learned about the applications of fuuinjutsu, sealing demons after all was one of the first objectives in the creation of fuuinjutsu.

The blond snorted, "What did you see now, I wonder?" He gritted his teeth, "So I am right, you just wanted to confirm that…" The majority of village already distrusts him, it would seem that this person was just another in that already long list. What else is new, Naruto thought sarcastically.

Itachi flinched inwardly, his lips curved down. "I mean no harm Naruto-kun." He stated sternly, "At this point you must have understood the basic theory of fuuinjutsu, and villagers are never subtle to show their animosity towards you… I wanted to know what _you_ would do about it."

Naruto glared at the Uchiha heir, "If you're afraid that I am going to do something stupid as taking revenge on them, you needn't worry, rest assured... the occasional prank is as far as I would go." He waved his hand in negative, "As far I'm concerned, hating them back is not going to make me happier." He gritted his teeth as his eyes closed, "I will just sink to their level…"

Itachi looked at Naruto with an unreadable expression, but there was an unmistakable spark of gratitude and admiration in his eyes. "That's… very wise of you…" This boy hadn't even lived through war, or witnessed countless lives lost as those left behind mourned their passing. But Naruto understood the misplaced hatred the villagers have, that they wanted someone to blame on for their loss, and he understands that returning their hatred would just make the pain last longer, and in doing so the wounds that everyone kept in their hearts would never mend.

The jinchuuriki snorted, "I am no saint though, I believe life is easier when you take it in stride…" He gritted his teeth, "But that doesn't change the fact that they want to make my life as miserable as they could, so I am _reasonably_ wary of anyone who approaches me…"

The chuunin titled his head to the side, and then he sighed. "I hope so far I have done nothing that could make you think I hate you for your burden." He drawled calmly.

Naruto shook his head, "Look Itachi-senpai… I don't know why you keep me company for the last two weeks, and I am torn between being grateful and terrified of you."

"But I…" Itachi opened his mouth to refute.

Naruto cut him off, "No! Don't you understand? I am aware of your clan's position right now." Itachi blanched at that, "Which is why I am _reasonably_ wary of you."

Itachi paused as he contemplated Naruto's statement, and then after a beat he replied. "You're right."

Naruto looked at the older boy incredulously, "You just… accepted it? Just like that?"

"Yes." Itachi nodded, "You're right, it's inevitable to be wary of a member of clan with a traitorous history. To be honest I have to say that it's wise of you to be wary of us, especially because of what you hold."

His blue eyes couldn't get wider as he stared at Itachi with a mix of disbelief and astonishment. He shook his head, "I can't believe you just approved of my paranoia concerning your clan, but before you get any ideas… no, I have nothing against the Uchiha clan personally. It's just…"

"Could you talk with it?" Itachi asked with a voice that tinted with curiosity.

Naruto glared at the Uchiha, "If I say yes, are you going to think I am possessed and report me to Hokage-jiichan?"

Itachi shook his head, "I remember how its chakra feels, if you're possessed I am sure I can tell." Then after a beat he added, "I promise I will not report this conversation to Hokage-sama, unless you give me your consent."

Naruto sighed in relief, "Thanks, but it's _him_ not it." He corrected, then he eyed Itachi who raised an eyebrow at him cynically. "You're a Shinobi and yet you tell me you will keep my secret from jii-chan if I ask you? Just like that?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

The Uchiha nodded, "You have your reasons to keep it a secret, and you have no intention to harm our village in spite of your suffering because of them… you have right to keep your secrets at least." He listed on, and then he added. "I have… a brother your age, just a few months older than you."

"Oh?" What was he getting at?

"That night… my parents were out, and I was left behind to tend for my brother… I didn't see the Kyuubi firsthand but I can feel his chakra." Itachi rubbed his temple as the terrible memory resurfaced. "The Kyuubi's chakra was dangerous… children were crying the moment they felt it, if Yondaime-sama didn't seal him as soon as he did the casualties wouldn't be just from ninja on the front lines… those who were already physically weak like the elders, pregnant mothers, infants… at that point they would have died just from exposure…including my brother..." Itachi stood suddenly and bowed to Naruto with respect, "That night… everyone was desperate to protect our village, and Konoha would have been no more if not for your sacrifice. For bearing that burden for all of us and not giving in to hatred, I can't thank you enough…"

That was the longest sentence Naruto ever heard from Itachi. He knew people who cared for him were grateful for his sacrifice, but Itachi was the first to honestly express that gratitude to him, to say it out loud for him. For once… someone was being plainly honest to him. Maybe Itachi really deserved that benefit of doubt.

Naruto rubbed his temple, a smile painted on his lips. "I guess… you're really different after all." Itachi raised an eyebrow, "I will ask you one thing, and I want you to answer it honestly Itachi-senpai…"

"I will…" Itachi vowed.

"Do you hate him? My tenant?" Naruto asked.

That was an unexpected query, and it caught him off guard. "Do I hate him?" Itachi echoed, he never thought Naruto would ask how he feels about the bijuu who was also the source of the growing distrust towards his clan. "To be honest I should hate him, considering that he is the reason my clan is ostracized by our village. However... that's if he really is a natural disaster and was not controlled by my kin to attack Konoha like they suspected. Then again in that situation the Kyuubi is enemy of Konoha, as one of her shinobi I shall protect her from him out of duty and love for the village, not because of any personal feelings such as hatred."

Naruto blinked owlishly, there's nothing that could knock this guy off of his feet huh? But his reason was more believable that way. "Well... that's so rational of you Itachi-senpai." He admitted then called his tenant mentally. _'Kurama, sorry for disturbing your nap, but what do you think of him?'_

 _ **'I heard everything, and while I still don't like the Uchiha or this boy. I have to say he is a lot more logical than any Uchiha I was unfortunate enough to meet."**_ Kurama grunted, _ **'Unfortunately for him, the village's suspicion towards his clan is not wrong. An Uchiha was the culprit who controlled me years ago.'**_

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted, startling Itachi but the older boy was calm enough not to show it. Naruto covered his mouth as he realized that he accidentally talked to Kurama out loud. _'Kurama! You didn't tell me that!'_

_**'I thought it's easy to put two and two together, I told you I was controlled! Hashirama is dead, and you know how my previous hosts treated me, of course it's an Uchiha!'** _

_'Well... when you put it that way...'_ Naruto flushed mentally then he looked at Itachi, how the hell he was going to break it to the older boy. "It seems, the villagers' suspicion towards your clan... eh..."

Itachi closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. "So it's not misplaced…" He looked at Naruto, "This is actually another question I need the answer from you Naruto-kun, I want to know… if it's really someone from my clan who caused that tragedy..." His gaze hardened, "Could he tell you who it is? Did he recognize anything that we can use to identify the culprit?"

"Wait! Wait!" It was the first time Naruto saw Itachi on the brink of losing his composure. "Give me time to talk with him please?" Itachi flinched guiltily at that as he waited for Naruto to speak again with his bijuu. _'Kurama, do you know_ _which Uchiha?_ '

 _ **'Madara.'**_ Kyuubi spat in disgusted tone.

Naruto face palmed, _'Kurama, that better be not your grudge talking…'_

Kurama groaned, then again he had to admit his memory of that night was not the best. _ **'He was wearing a mask that only has one hole for a sharingan eye, and was wearing black cloak. His chakra is foul and full of hatred, typical of the Uchiha. If he is not Madara, he might as well be the second coming of the bastard.'**_ Kurama muttered scornfully.

Naruto nodded, "He said the culprit is wearing a mask that only shows his right sharingan eye, his chakra is full of hatred..." Naruto titled his head to the side, "He said it's typical for Uchiha for some reason."

Itachi swallowed heavily at that, "So even the Kyuubi thinks so... maybe the Uchiha really is a cursed clan."

"Considering his long standing grudge against the Uchiha, you shouldn't take it too seriously." Naruto said bluntly before he could stop himself, Itachi eyed him curiously. "Eh I mean... at least I can say that you're not a bad person Itachi-senpai."

"Thank you Naruto-kun." Itachi muttered solemnly.

Naruto nodded hesitantly, "You're welcome, and I guess I should start blaming this guy or something?" He shook his head, "I doubt he is even in the village right now though since my tenant would have been throwing tantrums more often if he ever feels the guy anywhere even near Konoha." And unless that guy had a legitimate reason to cause so much destruction... Naruto gave himself a mental shake, he already had enough on his plate for today, for now he had to survive and stay sane, that was a hard enough task.

Itachi rubbed his throbbing cranium, there went his plan to find the culprit and hand the bastard over to Hokage-sama to regain Konoha's trust. "This is so messed up." He concluded wearily.

"I'm starting to think that every time a truth comes up it's bound to be a mess." Naruto muttered sardonically, "So, what are you going to do now that you have learned the truth you wanted, Itachi-senpai?" He asked curiously.

For the first time since Naruto knew Itachi Uchiha, the prodigy looked really lost. "I don't know." He admitted honestly, "How do you deal with this Naruto-kun?"

"You're asking me?" Naruto asked back incredulously, "I told you, I just take it all in stride I guess, and work hard for the best. Even if the villagers don't like me any better than before, my life _is_ starting to look up. I now have something to pursue, to live up to the legacy of my clan... everyone I care about could be proud of the present me now that I am no longer a failure." Itachi chuckled softly at that, earning a raised eyebrow from the blond. "What's so funny?"

Itachi shook his head, wearing an apologetic look on his face as he realized that he might have offended the younger boy. "Pardon me, but it's just... from what I gathered you're far from being a failure, both as a human... and as a jinchuuriki." He stated firmly, "I haven't met any other jinchuuriki, but I have heard that those who are shunned by their people usually grow distant, uncontrollable, and are sometimes even driven to madness..."

"I thought any info on jinchuuriki is closely guarded by each village…" Naruto wondered out loud.

"No secret is safe in war, especially when it comes to full-scale wars like the Shinobi wars." Itachi said solemnly.

Naruto eyed Itachi skeptically, "I see, so I am pretty stable by jinchuuriki standards?" He asked curiously.

"If half of the things I heard about what other villages have to deal with their jinchuuriki are right, I have to say Konoha is _very_ lucky to have you." Itachi said honestly. On his last mission he worked with a jounin that had a mission involving a short visit to Suna. The senior told Itachi that he had seen a boy around Naruto's age killing someone out of the blue.

"... Nice to know I am appreciated for being sane." Naruto droned, shaking his head in disbelief. He then eyed the older boy dubiously, Itachi is holding out a hand to him, "Is that what I think it is?"

"It is." Itachi said cordially, his lips curved up to a small and barely noticeable smile as Naruto accepted his hand.

"This is the start of a very unlikely and awkward..." Naruto trailed off but the smile on his face betrayed his feelings.

"…Friendship." Itachi finished. "But I am sure the awkwardness will wear off with time."

Naruto moaned, "Great, do I have to deal with you rationalizing everything all the time from now on?"

Itachi nodded, "Someone has to be a voice of reason Naruto-kun."

"I am sure I will appreciate that." Naruto said with a grin, ignoring Kurama who lamented the inevitable and how they were going to regret this one day. Perhaps the Yūjō no Ki was really more than just a monument, and under that tree's blessing he gained his first friend.

"Hn."

"Oh! The famous _Hn_ of the Uchiha." Naruto chirped, rolling his eyes. "By the way speaking of your clan Itachi-senpai... the Uchiha is a clan of fire-breathers right?"

He nodded, "Yes." Itachi answered. "Why?"

Naruto grinned from ear to ear, "Perfect! Is there anyone in your clan that you think would volunteer to be an experimental subject?"

"You mean, stupid enough to be a guinea pig for your demonstrations which might involve explosions among other things?" Itachi rephrased in stoic tone.

Naruto's left eye twitched, "And here I tried to make it sound humane."

"Hn."

The blond jinchuuriki face-palmed, "How Uchiha of you." He complimented theatrically.

* * *

**Three days later...**

Uchiha Shisui didn't know what to think when Itachi asked for help in some sort of mock spar to demonstrate some new shinobi products. His younger cousin was a genius, and he'd also like to think himself as one, even though he may not be of Itachi's caliber, but most of the time even he couldn't understand Itachi's train of thought. Then again his favorite cousin was just _that_ special.

"Sure." He answered without second though. "What kind of stuff we're going to do a demo for?"

"High-quality seals." Was Itachi's curt answer.

One hour later Shisui had one opinion of the tags the blond boy generously gave him, "Awesome stuff! This is the fire seal ever!" He exclaimed while looking at the cross shaped burn mark on the ground. They were in training ground 22, which consisted of rocky ground that was the typical terrain found in Earth country.

Naruto stared at the Uchiha, wondering if this was a mutated Uchiha or an adopted one judging from how un-Uchiha like he acted. Itachi in the first glance was a typical Uchiha though one could say that he is actually a bit off as an Uchiha. Shisui was even weirder, and so carefree. Then again, so far all his info on how Uchiha were supposedly like came from Kurama. "Uhm thanks?" He said awkwardly. "I am glad to hear that." Deep inside he wanted to whoop at the praise, but decided to against it in front of a stranger like Shisui.

Shisui raised an eyebrow at the socially awkward child, acting mature and polite that didn't fit for someone his age. How unlike the little Sasuke who would have been beaming with glee when praised. "No wonder you're Itachi's new friend, you're as awkward as he is."

"Pardon me? What did you say just now?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

The oldest Uchiha in vicinity stared at the blond in disbelief, then looked at his younger cousin. "What did you do Itachi? He said _'p_ _ardon me' …_ him! a kid as old as Sasuke-chan!"

Itachi frowned at his cousin, "Pardon me?" He echoed, "What makes you think it's my fault?"

The said cousin scoffed, "Well... kids Naruto-chan's age are supposed to whoop and grin when praised."

"… _chan_?" Naruto drawled in an indignant tone.

Itachi face-palmed while Shisui was grinning from ear to ear. The younger Uchiha could tell where his cousin's train of thought was going, Shisui was trying to get Naruto to show his real personality. Itachi knew Naruto always put his guard on whenever he meets a stranger, acting polite, stiff and distant. Unless he was pressured like what Itachi did to him, Naruto won't show even a shred of his real personality. Especially since Shisui was supposed to be Itachi's sparring partner to field test his seals, to Naruto Shisui was some just sort of business partner.

"Yes Naruto-chan." Shisui was nodding sagely, "You're... seven right? So you're Naruto-chan, you're even shorter than little cousin Sasuke! And here I thought he was a midget."

The use of past tense wasn't lost on Naruto as the blond boy struggled to keep his temper in check. _'Who did he call a midget?! How dare he!'_ Naruto roared inwardly but all he said in reality was, "I see..." No, he did not see… at all.

In his mind scape Naruto was throwing a tantrum in front of Kurama's cage, much to the fox's amusement. _**'I almost thought that you've really growing up, it's a relief to see a small insult like that could still get on your nerves so easily.'**_

_'Kurama...'_

The fix opened one eye, _ **'Yeah?'**_

 _'Do you know any methods to grow taller?'_ He asked hopefully.

 _ **'I guess.'**_ Kurama answered curtly _,_ _ **'Go drink lots of dairy products and eat and high protein stuff.'**_ As usual Kurama opted give him advice in a single sentence and hoped his host could figure out the rest. It always worked anyway.

 _'Hmph! Fine Kurama!'_ As he finished his mental conversation which lasted for no longer than few second Naruto turned to Itachi, raising an eyebrow asking a silent question, how he could stand Shisui. Which was replied by a shrug by the Uchiha heir, translated as he grew used to it.

Shisui's left eyebrow was twitching dangerously as he watched the silent exchange, "I can't believe you, Itachi! You corrupted a kid like Naruto-chan!" He shouted indignantly, pointing an accusing finger at the stoic boy.

Itachi face-palmed, "Shisui, be quiet."

Naruto decided to copy Itachi's strategy, just tolerate Shisui's antics before his hair got prematurely grey. He cleared his throat, "Hokage-sama is coming soon, do you need more time to experiment with the seal? Would you like me to explain how it works again?" He asked in a solemn tone.

Itachi nodded, "Maybe we should wait for Hokage-sama and the seal master, that way you won't have to repeat it later."

"Oh, I guess that would be good." Naruto agreed with a nod.

Shisui titled his head to the side, curiously eyeing the stack of tags on the wooden stump that Naruto used as a table. His eyes were drawn to ball shaped bomb with seal array and kanji for Hikari on it. "Hey Naruto-chan, you didn't explain that tag to us! It's a new flash tag right?!" He pointed at the flash bomb.

Naruto shook his head fervently, "Don't _even_ think about it Shisui-senpai." He warned the cheerful Uchiha, "I have yet to test that flash bomb properly, and I don't want anyone _especially_ doujutsu users like you to be blinded by the end of the day." He shuddered mentally; maybe inventing that flash bomb was not the best idea, but Kurama was very adamant about it, in case-they ran to that bastard Uchiha who controlled him again.

Shisui blinked when he saw Itachi scooped the three small round bombs and hand it to Naruto, "You better keep it with you then before my dear cousin gets any ideas." The onyx eyed shinobi muttered.

"OI!"

Naruto sweat-dropped as he put the bombs back to his backpack, both of them ignoring Shisui's indignant shouts. "Thank you Itachi-senpai."

"It's better to be safe than sorry." Then he turned to Shisui, "And I told you to keep it down cousin." Itachi said in chiding tone.

"I am older than both of you!" Shisui reminded them.

Naruto's eyes widened in faked shock, "You are?"

"I keep forgetting that myself." Itachi admitted, his voice devoid of emotion but the slight shake of his shoulders gave away his mirth. "He certainly didn't act his age Naruto-kun."

Shisui moaned, "Great! Now there are two smart-asses I have to deal with!"

"Shisui, mind your language." Itachi chided him, "You're the one who called him Naruto-chan, and yet you use such language around him."

The curly haired Uchiha pouted, "I know!" Shisui huffed, "Sasuke-chan is my favorite cousin now, and you're the new least favorite cousin! Right under Tekka!" Shisui exclaimed triumphantly.

Itachi nursed his throbbing cranium, "Shisui..." Of all people he put him below that Tekka? Their cousin who was five years older, but just recently promoted as a chuunin. He had been glaring daggers at them since the last exam because Shisui's team gave Tekka's problem in second round and on the third round Itachi defeated him in less than ten minutes. Uchiha prodigy or not, Tekka's pride was severely crushed in being defeated by a ten year old kid.

"Yeah! Tekka! That Tekka!" Shisui howled.

"Shisui." Itachi said in berating tone.

The cheery Uchiha looked really happy boasting that Itachi was below this Tekka person, maybe a stuck up cousin of theirs? And for once Itachi looked really insulted by the arrangement. "Hmhm… Ha ha ha." Both Uchiha stopped as they stared at Naruto, the blond jinchuuriki was laughing, his eyes closed but they could see a glimmer of bright azure under golden eyelashes that shone with delight. Naruto hunched over as holding his stomach, his lips curved up to a wide grin as he tried to keep his laughter in control but light chuckles still escaped him. "Ha ha... "

Naruto cleared his throat, flushing a bit red on his cheeks. "Uhm, sorry... I..." The next thing he knew, Shisui had glomped him.

"Gosh, it's like seeing the mini Itachi losing his composure!" Shisui cackled mischievously, lifting Naruto up enthusiastically, earning a yelp from the blond. "How cu..." His sentence was cut short by a kick on his face. "Gah!"

Naruto didn't know what possessed him, but he had acted on instinct. The moment someone he still dubbed as stranger went too familiar and had gone as far as hugging him, he kicked said person. And then he ran to the only familiar person nearby and tried to hide. He froze when he realized what he had done, and wondered if Shisui would be angry. Unexpectedly Shisui burst to a fit of laughter, "Oh my god Itachi! He is hiding behind you! He is shy!"

Itachi looked at Naruto who looked ready to curl up to a ball and decided he had to save the younger boy from further unintentional humiliation by Shisui. "I think that's enough from you, don't tease him Shisui. You know who he is, and how villagers treat him." Shisui stiffened at the reprimand. "He is not used to... someone he just met getting overly familiar with him." Not to mention hugging him, Itachi added on his mind. He remembered before their conversation, Naruto was very skittish around him, and that he had to approach the boy with caution.

Shisui looked apologetic as he crouched down so his eyes were in Naruto's level. "I am sorry Naruto-chan. Bad habit of mine..."

Naruto titled his head to the side as he contemplated what the Uchiha said. He nodded slowly, "I am sorry for overreacting too, uhm... Shisui-senpai." Even so he was still unwilling to leave his comfort zone, namely behind Itachi's legs. Why was his paranoia was eating at him this much? God! Being cautious was one thing; paranoia was making him crazy. He rolled his eyes inwardly when Kurama told him that if being paranoid could get him to live for another day, it was worth it. Kurama had almost zero concern regarding quality of his host's life, then again considering his life for the last few centuries...

"No problem Naruto-chan." Shisui assured him, laughing at the sight of Naruto's strained smile that didn't match the throbbing vein on his temple.

**"Naruto-kun."**

Two Uchihas and one Uzumaki turned to see the Hokage approaching, smiling genially at them. Naruto's eyes were briefly drawn to a man who walked a few steps behind the Sandaime. He was probably in his mid to late thirties, a soft smile in his face made him appeared a mild-mannered, curly dark brown hair that parted on the left and eyes of the same color framed by a square glasses. He wore a black kimono and a white haori with kanji for fuuin on his right and left sleeves.

They bowed in respect to their village leader, "Hokage-sama."

The Hokage returned it with curt nod, "I see you have become friends with Itachi and Shisui, Naruto-kun." The old kage didn't even bother to conceal his relieved sigh, earning a puzzled look from the blond boy. Then he turned to the man who stood a few steps behind him, "This is Aizen Sousuke, the current head of the Fuuin Division of konoha."

Naruto looked at the gentle looking man, rather than looking like a shinobi he looked like a scholar. Then again you could never judge a shinobi from his/her looks, most of the time at least. Aizen smiled genially at the blond, leaning down so he could look at Naruto in the eye. "Hello Naruto-kun, I am Aizen Sousuke and I will be your teacher."

The young jinchuuriki tried his best to smile, "That is if I can impress you with my meager skills Aizen-san." He reminded the seal master modestly.

Aizen shook his head, "Nonsense, I have seen your research notes and I am very impressed." Then he looked at the Sandaime, "After studying those, I don't think I'm going to let anyone else get their hands on him."

Sarutobi chuckled softly, "Eager to utilize the potential of a young talent Aizen?"

Itachi didn't know why but his instincts told him to be wary of Aizen Sousuke. He had rarely seen anyone from the Fuuin Division because most of them spend a majority of their career in their headquarters to maintain Konoha's barrier and other fuuinjutsu defenses that the Shodaime's wife left for Konoha. While they were an important part of Konoha's defense force, they were relatively weak compared to other divisions when it comes to physical strength. They mostly do paperwork like the chuunin secretaries at the Hokage tower which is why it is easy to consider them to be more like scholars than shinobi.

Frontline seal masters were rare, and as rare as they were, the level of mastery of most of them was sketchy. Not everyone could juggle between research and combat practice, and attempting fuuinjutsu in battle was quite a feat even as support. Konoha currently only had Jiraiya and Kakashi and while a number of Jounin may have a little above-average skill in the obscure art, none of them could use more fuuinjutsu-save-kuchiyose in the heat of battle. While Naruto with his jinchuuriki status was more suitable for the frontlines, his lineage would make Konoha's upper echelon keep him in check. He was an Uzumaki, a clan with unparalleled skill in fuuinjutsu. While Konoha could use Uzumaki Mito's legacy from generation to generation, no seal masters including Jiraiya were capable enough to modify, improve or fix the seals, it was an untouchable work of art of the highest caliber in Fuuinjutsu. If there's anyone with potential to create seals of that caliber, it would be Uzumaki Naruto.

He could see what Konoha wanted, and what the Hokage would do to give it to her.

Itachi ran through the rocky ground, hopping from one rock to another. Shisui was ahead, and both of them were well aware that they were heading to a clearing. Shisui's grin was a signal that Itachi should start attacking. The prodigy jumped, his sharingan came to life as four shuriken shaped objects were held between his fingers. It looked like normal Shuriken at a first glance but it was made of ceramic not metal, and the tips were not sharp but tapered, a rune carved from each tip to the center which held 炎(Honoo) engraving He threw it with admirable precision, two of them passing Shisui and as soon as both landed on the ground the seal carved on it glowed briefly before cross shaped fire sprouted from its tips, forming a wall of fire.

"Whoa!" Shisui yelped as he was trapped in a square formation of **Katon no Juujika-Fuuin** (Fire Element Cross Seal) The older Uchiha grinned as he backed away from the fire only to stop on his tracks the moment another wall of fire erupted and blocked his escape route. Shisui shunshin-ed away from the cage of fire with ease and reappeared ten feet away from his original position. His sharingan eyes widened as he bent backward to avoid another of the same seal carved projectile which was this time already active as it cut through the air. Shisui could feel the intense heat on the tip of his nose as the he missed the flaming current of the projectiles by two inches as they wheezed past him.

The Sandaime smiled bemusedly at the two Uchiha, it seemed that they enjoyed their fiery spar. Then again the Uchiha were always a clan of pyromaniacs, his sensei used to tell him. "That's enough! Itachi! Shisui!" Shisui seemed unsatisfied at cutting the experiment short but Itachi shot him a warning glance. The two Uchiha walked back to where the spectators of the spar sat, under an Adenium tree which was the only tree that grew in that training ground.

Aizen Sousuke clapped a few times, a gentle smile firmly in place. "That's prodigious, as expected of the Uchiha clan. Naruto-kun only told you how to activate the seal and its functions, but you figured out how to apply it in battle yourself."

Itachi nodded, "Thank you for your kind words Aizen-dono, the last seal I used... Katon no Juujika Fuuin seems very useful to corner opponents and can be used as a surprise attack." He turned to Naruto as he fished out the last shuriken shaped device from his pouch, "Its design makes it convenient to use but... Naruto-kun, why it's made of ceramic?" He asked curiously, though he was sure it won't break since Naruto used durability seals on it too.

Naruto sighed at that, "Well... for one, I am no smith and I don't have that kind of money to purchase customized shuriken from a blacksmith."

Aizen nodded in understanding, "I see, is it possible to make this seal work for other elements?"

Naruto looked thoughtful as he contemplated the query, "Probably." He decided, "I asked Itachi-senpai since these seals would work better for ninja with fire affinity. I can make this seal to be general so what comes out would be the user's affinity. Though not for earth... water may still work but it's easily more applicable for fire, wind and lightning." He shook his head, "That's only in theory though."

The Hokage nodded in approval, "How about the other seals you used? Itachi-kun? Shisui-kun?"

Shisui titled his head to the side as he fished out a tag from his pouch. "This one..." He glared at Itachi. "…made my feet stick to the ground, very good for trapping unless you face an earth element ninja." He eyed his bare feet in distaste, "Though if it only get to our feet, anyone can pull lizard style escape."

Itachi shrugged, "I have to say that while Shisui is correct, those who are caught unaware would be an easy target even for a few seconds. This seal, **Gome Jimen Fuuin** (Sticky Ground Seal) is good, though the range is poor as it only works on a three feet radius from the seal."

Naruto sighed at that, "Actually it depends on how much chakra you put on it, though to be safe I put a limiter symbol on it so that it gets sticky enough to trap people in that small range and last longer." He informed them, "It's not an elemental seal anyway, it's..."

"…a stronger version of the tree climbing exercise on a seal?" The old kage muttered in an amused tone. "So much room for improvement, especially since... The ground looks the same after you applied the seal on it, so unless you have a doujutsu to see chakra, you can't tell there's a trap."

Aizen nodded in agreement, "This seal works instantaneously the moment it touches the ground, you don't have to stick it, and it's reusable too." He eyed the tag, "Most of us instinctively move with a chakra boost, thus any body parts where chakra is focused would stick to this like magnet."

The blond boy nodded, "I recommend it for trap use... but it needs a lot of chakra to last more than few minutes. But it won't be a problem once someone is trapped in its range... the seal would be powered by the captive's chakra." Naruto informed them, "Speaking of the poor range, I can provide you one with wider range but you need more chakra to make it sticky and last longer until it catches your opponent." He muttered as he rummaged through his backpack, "And here is the last one I have for today." He muttered and pulled out a flash tag. "This one is a flash bomb, but it can last more than five minutes and comes in seven colors. Eh... no." He shook his head at the look Sandaime shot him. "It's not for pranking."

"..."

"..."

"We have to use sunglasses to use it for sure." Shisui quipped with a grin, he was referring to doujutsu users in general. "And a warning that it's not to be used in anywhere near the Uchiha and Hyuuga compounds."

"I concur." Itachi drawled.

Sarutobi smiled at that, it seemed Naruto was still a prankster at heart. "I will get my ANBU and Oinin to test it. If it works effectively, I would want that for them."

Naruto wisely didn't ask how they're going to use it, he just hoped he would never find out if any missing Nin that ends up blind because of it. "Of course Hokage-sama." He bowed in respect, earning a sad look from Sandaime that disappeared the moment he raised his head.

Sarutobi cleared his throat, "Aizen has voiced his interest in your talent, and I have seen it myself... what you could do with modifying basic seals and simple concepts such as the tree climbing exercise." He pulled a red scroll with golden trimming and the Konoha symbol and handed it to Naruto. "You deserve it Naruto-kun." He said cordially as Naruto accepted the scroll with awe and thinly veiled nervousness. "Congratulations, you passed with flying colors."

The blond jinchuuriki held the scroll with trembling hands, while he was confident of his skills he was still in disbelief that he at last gained the acknowledgement he longed for. "Thank you Hokage-sama." He bowed in respect to the old kage then turned to Aizen. "It's an honor to learn your art Aizen-san, I will do my best as your student."

Aizen smiled genially, "I am looking forward to it Naruto-kun, and call me Shishou from now on... "

"Hai Shishou." Naruto obeyed readily.

 _ **'Naruto...'**_ Kurama called from the depths of his mind.

 _'Yes, Kurama?'_ His bijuu would rarely be the first to attempt a conversation.

 _ **'I don't trust this man at all...'**_ Kurama growled.

 _'I see...'_ Naruto chuckled inwardly, _'I will be careful, I promise.'_ He glanced to his back, where he could see Itachi's eyes had narrowed at Aizen only to gaze back to him. He smiled reassuringly to Itachi then nodded. _'You're not the only one my friend...'_

 _ **'Bah!'**_ Kurama snorted in disgust.

March 7th, seven years after Yondaime's death. Uzumaki Naruto graduated from the academy to be apprenticed under Aizen Sousuke, which marked as a significant turning point in his life.


	5. Halcyon Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At any rate... this is like a chapter about Naruto's somewhat peaceful day, living with his fellow seal master and go training with Itachi and Shisui, hence why this chapter titled Halcyon Days.
> 
> Maw... while I paint Uchiha clan in positive light, it doesn't mean Naruto could make their problem go away. Naruto at this point is still a nobody, at least in politics. From what I see in canon Uchiha is arrogant and proud, which by right not something I would make fun of. In recent chapters it revealed Senju (Hashirama excluded) is not better than Uchiha when it comes to pride, both clans are proud of their heritage which was why they fought in the first place.
> 
> I won't say it's right for Uchiha to rebel, it's neither right or wrong just stupidly desperate. They're a proud clan and ostracizing them is like asking for a time bomb to explode. So yeah, kudos to you Orochimaru, to point it out to Niidaime.
> 
> For Naruto's new clothes, it's the same one Sarutobi Sasuke from Samurai Deeper Kyo wear but orange one. I see nothing wrong with the kill-me-orange if Naruto can survive wearing it, he is a bad ass. The new cover is Naruto's clothes when we reach canon start (rookie 9 graduation time line) Which pretty much orange-dark blue version of Tokito of Samurai Deeper Kyo wear with a touch of Kushina's old clothes when she was a genin.
> 
> Sorry, if anyone confused Itachi pulled a shinai, I discarded that idea and forgot to erase that one. He pulled a tag not a shinai, my bad!
> 
> NOT YAOI, though I have to say... yaoi fans are free to take anything as hint like in canon. So yeah, feel free to interpret it.

_**"You shall not make an Uzumaki repeat themselves for the third time when it comes to fuuinjutsu. You nod, shut up, and do as they said before they tear you a new mouth for back talking them in their expertise."** _

Seal Masters when dealing with an Uzumaki

Aizen was a pleasant person; at least he painted himself as such. Naruto didn't know why but he, Kurama, and Itachi were instantly wary of the man. In spite of that, he didn't voice a word of protest, when Aizen asked him to move to Fuuin Division Dormitory. It was just reasonable that a teacher would want his disciple to be contactable any time, and devoted most of their time in their study. Naruto didn't have that much attachment to his old apartment anyway, at the very least the new place won't be devoid of life.

And oh boy… how wrong he was.

The dormitory was located in a tower, on the west side of North forest; apparently it was pretty close to the city. The dormitory room or rather an apartment looked pretty much the same as his old apartment; and insultingly larger with queen size bedroom, the bathroom and kitchen were inside too. The difference was, it looked so bare and needed personal touch.

"How do you like it Naruto-kun?" Aizen asked as he led the blond boy to explore his new home.

Naruto bobbed his head, "I like it! It's bigger than my old place!" Which mean it would feel _emptier_ too with only him. "But… I always thought a dormitory room supposes to be small!"

"Not when it's for the Division Leader." Aizen informed him.

"Oh." Naruto paused than stared at the older seal master in shock. "Oh, I thought I am going to live alone, so this is your place Shisou?"

Aizen shook his head, "I have my own house… it's ten minutes walk from the our tower, I would love to let you live in my home…" The haori clad Shinobi sighed, "But higher ups insist that you've to live here."

Apparently he was not the only cautious one of Aizen, which made him wonder why they let Aizen to keep his position at all. He had not heard of Aizen clan, which meant the clan was minor so it was no reason to fear political backlash or anything alike. Unless upper echelon of their village still trusted the man, and they wanted Naruto to be where they could keep their eyes on. It annoyed him, most of his life had been trailed by ANBU. How much monitoring they needed?!

Naruto nodded, "But I am not sure I should have this place…"

"Nonsense." Aizen drawled, "You're used to have a place with bathroom and kitchen Naruto-kun, so Hokage-sama deemed it prudent you deserve the same luxury even in dormitory. This place is never used by me, it's better be in use than gathering dust."

The blond boy smiled at that, "I promise I will take a good care of this place Shisou!" He beamed. "And by the way! Can I paint it orange?" He asked cheerfully.

Aizen sweat-dropped at him, "Eh… this is not private property Naruto-kun though I think you could pick a more neutral color… a very pale orange maybe? I will ask permission from Hokage-sama for you!"

"Really Shisou?!" Naruto beamed at the offer, "Thank you!" He thanked his master. Aizen just smiled as he bid Naruto good bye and left the boy to attend his business in his office. Naruto waved at retreating Aizen cheerily. "See you around Shisou!" As soon as Aizen was out of his sight he closed the door and his eyes narrowed.

 ** _'That man is full of bullshit!'_** Kurama growled. **_'Ask Hokage-sama for you?! You could ask that old man yourself! He sounds like he is going to do a favor for you!'_**

Naruto sighed as he began to unload books from the box. _'Well… kids normally won't notice when adult is bullshitting them. And he seems to be set on making me fond of him.'_

The demon fox snorted, **_'On his dream~ But still, do you think this is a wise decision? Haven't you learned that naiveté could get you killed?'_**

The blond boy clenched his teeth; his finger pushed the book to straighten the row. _'Hiragi-jiichan... the man who changed my life, in spite of everything I owe him. I can't hate him, not when he gave up his life research for me… I don't know what he was thinking but should I care?'_ He wondered in somber tone. _'To us seal master… what he has given to me is like a Shinobi giving up both of his hands.'_

**_'Can't argue with you there, but still! We were so lucky he didn't mess you up!'_ **

_'Hai… but you know Hiragi-jiichan is probably not in this world anymore, regardless of his original intention to me is good or bad.'_ Kurama had told him that the man had received a full blast of exposure to Kurama's demonic chakra. A normal human would have went mad and committed suicide or died in instant. _'I owe him, that's all in it. As far as I concerned… he probably…'_ Naruto trailed off as he put the last book on the shelves. _'The only human who ever gave me something without nothing on him in return.'_

Hokage's kindness to him might be out of genuine love to him like a grandfather would their grandson, but in the same time it was also a duty. He was the jinchuuriki of Konoha after all. Even this opportunity to further his study was partly for Konoha. Tori cared about him but the ANBU's protection was a duty too…

And Itachi… he was not sure but when it comes to the older boy he could safely say their friendship based on their understanding of each other's standing. Itachi was the prodigy who shouldered his clan's pride on his young shoulder, while he was aware of how his clan slowly descended to the path of no return. While Naruto was a sacrifice for the village and betrayed by them, ironically it was after they knew what he had done for them.

They were both aware of how foolish human could be once consumed by hatred.

Sometimes Naruto wondered if he was indeed a prodigy, a genius as they called him. If what it takes to be a genius was to know why everyone else was idiot, it was both a curse and blessing. A blessing to know you're not an idiot and a curse to know you're living among idiots.

He wisely discarded the thought, because it seemed Itachi was rubbing off on him.

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

Uchiha Sasuke could shamelessly admit he loved his big brother more than he did his parents. It was ironic that while the whole clan pressured him to be as good as Itachi, his big brother was the one who protected him from the said pressure. It was really stressful for a young boy like Sasuke to live under the shadow of such a talented older brother, and he sought comfort from his brother and mother whenever he could. His brother was always busy since he started working as an ANBU, so every second he could get from Itachi was precious. He went home in hurry because it was the day Itachi promised to let Sasuke watching his training with kunai and shuriken. Much to his disappointment Itachi was not home yet.

"Kaa-san!" Sasuke called his mother who was busy unloading her groceries from plastic bag. "Where's nii-san?" He asked impatiently as he pulled one of the chair and pushed himself up to sit.

Mikoto paused her work, "Oh, he went to Munechika-san's place… he should be back soon. He has been away for two hours, it shouldn't take so long…"

Sasuke blinked owlishly as he processed what his mother said, "Munechika-san? I thought nii-san just restocked his weapon supply last week?" Itachi was always took a good care of his weapons, so usually it lasted longer. It didn't make sense his brother needed to buy anything from the blacksmith.

The Uchiha matriarch titled her head to the side thoughtfully, "Well… apparently when he restocked his weaponry last week he also ordered something from Munechika-san and he went to pick it up today." She explained as she finished putting the groceries on their fridge.

"Oh." Sasuke hummed excitedly, "Did nii-san ordered some cool weapons?" He asked childishly.

"I did not."

Sasuke almost jumped on his seat then turned around to face his big brother. Itachi looked pretty amused by his reaction, judging from small smiled on his lips. "Nii-san! You startled me!"

Itachi shrugged, "Tadaima… kaa-san, Sasuke…" He poked Sasuke on the forehead as he walked pass, earning a pout from his little brother. "More vigilant next time." Itachi lifted his right hand; holding up a plastic bag. "Uruchi-baasan gave me some anpan and curry bread from their bakery."

Mikoto smiled at that, she mentally noted to thank the old couple the next time she saw them. "That's very nice of them."

Sasuke turned to his brother, "So what did you get from Munechika-san, nii-san?" He asked curiously.

"You will see it later." Itachi promised with a glint on his eyes.

* * *

Sasuka watched in awe as his brother showed him a custom made shuriken, which just poofed out from a storage scroll. Unlike normal shuriken the tips were tapered to a diamond shaped hole, runes carved on its metallic body with an elegantly written 炎 for hono on the center. The next projectile Itachi set beside the custom made shuriken was… a slip of paper?

Itachi chuckled amusedly at Sasuke's confusion, "Let's see these in action shall we?" He said as he led Sasuke to the nearest clearing.

The younger brother looked confused when Itachi took out a wooden dummy out of the scroll. Unlike one he saw in training ground this one was not made of hay but wood, which make it looked like a puppet. He had seen something alike in bookstore, one that used as model for painter to draw human. This one was big, a head taller than Sasuke. Itachi placed a tag on its head, the tag also had difficult looking rune with 息 for 'breath' in the center.

Sasuke couldn't help but gaped when he saw the five feet wooden dummy suddenly came alive and looked like it was running for its life from them. The way it moved was awkward and frantic, and looked more like bouncing instead of running. After it reached certain distance from them it was running in circle around the training ground like a headless chicken. Sasuke was really disturbed by how creepy it looked.

"I am not sure that's on purpose." Itachi was apparently wasn't disturbed by its frantic bouncing, even when Sasuke flinched at the puppet's head 180 degrees turn.

"Nii-san." Sasuke almost whimpered, "It's dancing."

Itachi only raised an eyebrow when the puppet started dancing ballet, and it was horrendous. Then again the puppet was no Billy Elliot. Sasuke _really_ started to whimper when the said puppet jumped in the air with its hands stretched out like it was trying to fly. "If this is his idea of joke, it's really a poor taste." Itachi craned his neck, "But it seems to be a workable puppet for practice dummy."

The Uchiha prodigy stepped forward before he dived to a full sprint towards his target. From the corner of his eyes he saw his father approached Sasuke, Fugaku had came to watch his training it seemed. He paid the spectators no mind as he threw the custom made shuriken to the puppet. Fire came alive and encased the shuriken; it looked like a disc of fire cutting through the puppet dodged the coming fiery projectile with jumping high to the air, the legs disturbingly parted in 180 degrees in the mid-air. However it wasn't fast enough when it jumped so the tip of its feet were torched. Itachi didn't even pause when the puppet landed on it's burning feet and started to spin around.

"Shuriken encased in fire." Fugaku murmured, ignoring his youngest son who at some point had clung to his pants. He couldn't blame Sasuke, the dancing puppet was a pretty disturbing sight for a child. "It's like... a more advanced version of our Housenka no Jutsu." Itachi started to corner the puppet with a fire of wall, dodging spinning kick from the burning wooden feet in the process. "Interesting."

Sasuke gulped, "Nii-san is so fast! But how that shuriken can sprout fire even though Nii-san didn't burn them?" He asked curiously.

"Fuuinjutsu..." Fugaku answered in solemn tone. "The shuriken is imbued with Itachi's fire natured chakra while the rune functioned to shape and manipulate it to produce the same effect as Housenka no Jutsu." Shisui had told him about the Minato's son and the latest achievement of the budding prodigy of seal master, the boy was truly their son.

"Oh..."

Fugaku really hoped they could have adopted Minato's son, but that would be soundly rejected by Sandaime and his cronies. He also didn't want to add oil to the fire, considering their position now. While it was true sharingan was probably the only thing left in the world that could control Kyuubi, everyone seemed to _conveniently_ forgot his family's relationship with Yondaime's. He would sooner cut his own hand than letting his clan to harm Minato's family. The village could accuse Uchiha all they wanted, and _conveniently_ forgot that Mikoto was Kushina's best friend and he was Minato's childhood friend _and_ second cousin. The latter was not even a public secret, while it was not well known.

One of his mother's cousin married a Namikaze and had Minato. Minato's mother had recessive gene of Uchiha and Namikaze was actually an offshoot of Senju, which was why Minato looked nothing like an Uchiha save the sharp shape of his eyes which was not that noticeable in the first place. Uzumaki Naruto was also very unlikely to develop Sharingan considering Minato married an Uzumaki, a family line which was another offshoot of Senju, diluting the Uchiha blood even further. Aside of the blood relationship, they also forgot how crushed Minato was when Obito was killed, and how Minato had kneeled in front of him to apologize for his nephew's death. Hatake Kakashi was still alive and breathing was also thanks to Minato. The clan was furious about Kakashi's sharingan, but they honored Obito's last wish.

Not to mention Minato didn't need their petty anger on Kakashi while he already had enough on his plate. Even in politic standpoint, without their blood relation thrown in the mix, it didn't make sense for Uchiha to want Minato dead. Minato was the only Hokage after Shodaime who treated them fairly. Fugaku suspected all relationships his family had with Yondaime's was hushed out by Sandaime and his teammates. His blood relation was probably hushed out the moment Minato took his hokage mantle. None of them noticed that time because war just ended and Konoha experienced the worst economic crisis since the first Great War. Minato was busy to stabilize their village and getting used to his new position, while Fugaku and police corps were busy to suppress raising criminality in Konoha's civilian populace. None of them realized what the old cronies did on their back. When he thought of it again it might be not Sandaime, the old man was too busy to grieve over his wife's and Minato's death. His teammates however...

Recalling those old fools had time to smear his clan's name in the worse moment possible made his blood boil. They could afford to hate the Jinchuuriki in their midst and one of the founding clans, sometimes Fugaku wondered if Konoha deserved Uchiha and Minato's legacy at all.

* * *

_'Fugaku! I am going to name my son, Naruto!" Minato informed him cheerfully._

_Fugaku's left eye twitched, "What did I tell you about letting Kushina to name your child?"_

_"Not after that ramen topping of course, I named him after the main character of Jiraiya-sensei's novel. Not a smutty kind of course!" Minato informed, looked pretty offended that Fugaku thought Kushina's ramen obsession would make his beautiful wife naming their son after the food._

_The Uchiha clan head rubbed his temple, "Even better, the name is from Jiraiya-sama. He is a great shinobi but..."_

_"Oh come on! My sensei is not that bad!' Minato protested._

_Fugaku snorted, "I arrested him three times for this week alone for peeping."_

_"Oh okay... he is bad, I admit." Minato swallowed heavily._

_"This is why I want to speak to you initially, the third time he was caught this week,_ _which was this afternoon..._ _my wife and yours were in hot spring for their pregnancy excise." Fugaku growled out._

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"Want to help me kill my ero-sensei?" Minato offered generously._

_"Of course."_

* * *

"Tou-san?" Itachi called.

Fugaku was snapped out of his thought, his eyes drawn by Itachi's stiff stance and Sasuke who had cowered behind his brother. He had been leaking killer intent when he was lost in memory it seemed. "I am fine now Itachi, Sasuke... it's been a hard day." He narrowed his eyes at Itachi. "About your new friend Itachi..."

The older son stiffened. "Yes?"

"Cherish him Itachi..." He drawled, "As my son, you should do better than I did." That Itachi could correct his mistake, and their son's bond won't be severed by negligence like what happened between him and Minato.

Itachi was stunned by the order, and marveled if there's no hidden intention in his father's voice. "Yes father."

He couldn't give Minato's son a family, but he would be damned if he even couldn't give a friend to Naruto.

* * *

Once he was apprenticed, he was given a new place to call a technical home and a new set of clothes. It was not a shirt or pants he usually wore, but some sort of double layered kimono which only as long as a normal shirt, the sleeve was long but not wider than normal sleeve like kimono. The outer kimono like shirt was white with one thick orange stripe on chest part while the inner was orange. The pants was short and came in darker shade of orange.

Instead of standard ninja shoes he was given a pair of black jika-tabi (traditional Japanese socks). The footwear, felt awkward at first but it was comfortable and he really liked the traditional sock though not the geta since it was too noisy. He liked the softness of their soles. This gave him tactile contact with the ground and lets him used his feet more agilely than rigid-soled shoes. He could use it in practice once he learned how to create durability seal for cloth.

Kurama generously informed him that it looked exactly like clothes Uzumaki Mito gave to her son. Which not surprising since it came from Uzushiogakure, and must had a preservation seal sewn on it. Naruto was not sure what to think when Hokage gave him the clothe,s but didn't say anything about it other than it was a gift. He sometimes wondered how undeserving he was, that not even a drop of information about his legacy was given to him. He didn't ask for much, a few sentences about Uzumaki clan he could find himself in library would be good enough. He wondered why he kept hoping that one day jii-chan would _indulge_ him at least a little about his legacy, to assure him he was not an unwanted trash nobody wanted.

* * *

"Scrolls! Books! Lots of it!" Shisui shook his head as he eyed Naruto's shelves in distaste. "No wonder majority of Shinobi population thinks you guys from Fuuin Division are scholars and not ninja!"

Naruto wondered why Itachi thought bringing Shisui to his place was a good idea. "Shisui." The older boy insisted he dropped the honorific with a promise Shisui wouldn't call him Naruto-chan anymore. "Put that scroll back, and here I thought Uchiha are clans who value brain over brawl."

Shisui raised an eyebrow, "So we're smart naturally, but so you know I don't read scrolls to study jutsu! We have instructor and sharingan for that!"

"I think Naruto-kun is talking about how our Sharingan helps our fighting style to be efficient, which involves strategic thinking instead of brute force." Itachi joined in after he took another sip of his green tea.

The shusin expert scoffed, "My best record when fighting an enemy ninja is with shunshin-ing right on my enemy's blind spot and roasted him with a katon. Just three minutes! Like cup noodle!" He boasted proudly.

"Did you just tell me that…" Naruto trailed off, "Setting your enemy on fire is more effective than your prized doujutsu?" Naruto asked incredulously.

He huffed, "We're pyromaniac at heart." Shisui declared proudly. "Sharingan tend to make you over-thinking in battle, while the simplest solution bring faster result."

"Which mean while Sharingan helps us to predict and counter nin, gen and tai, it's not efficient without enough brain to back it up so Shisui resort is prone to shunsin and roast anything in his path." Itachi explained in deadpan tone.

Shisui glared at his least favorite cousin, "OI!"

Naruto nodded sagely, "I see…"

"No you _did_ not." The older Uchiha growled.

Itachi sighed, "By the way Naruto-kun, I tested the nenshou-shuriken (burning throwing star) yesterday with that puppet seal you gave me."

Naruto's eyes lightened up at that, "Oh! How is it? Did both work properly?"

"I guess the nenshou-shuriken works well, as for your puppet seal." The Uchiha prodigy titled his head to the side, "Define properly."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his fellow prodigy, "Huh?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later in the nearest training ground Naruto and Shisui watched in horror as the puppet executed 32 fouettés en tournant before it bounced like a rabbit in heat. Aizen who was watching beside Naruto clapped cheerily. Itachi looked indifferent by the puppet, though if you watched closely you could see his left eyebrow twitched by 2 millimeters. Shisui regretted drawing Maito Gai's face on it, while it was creepy enough when the puppet's face was blank, the thick eyebrow, the eyelashes and the wide smile made the show looked straight from the worse realm of insanity. It was pretty funny at first, Shisui conceded, but now it was just plain creepy and disturbing.

The spell of silence hung heavily in the air save Aizen's clapping, it was Shisui who found his voice first. "No wonder little Sasuke is traumatized." He murmured, "Naruto, even I... have to admit it's not funny." Uchiha Shisui told him, in a voice that suggested his brain was broken.

Naruto gaped like a goldfish at them and for a moment of broken-minded-ness they stared at each other,"But... I didn't mean it to do that! That..." He stammered, "I was just trying to modify standard puppet seal Ryuudouin clan used! So it could move more fluidly and not so stiff like one the original clan used on training post!" He growled testily.

Aizen smiled at his disciple, he looked bemused by the whole ordeal. "The puppet did move fluidly now Naruto-kun." He beamed.

"Not that kind of fluid!" Naruto exclaimed in horror, he was about to correct his teacher but lost control of his jaw when he saw it. The moment the puppet jumped and doing a full leg splits in mid-air, which put too much strain on its hip joint and it's left leg fell out. The puppet landed on its right leg and started to spin again, while its left leg went flying and stuck on the wall, missing Naruto's cheek by one inch. Naruto regained his control as he put his jaw back up. He grabbed the stray leg then threw the leg to to the puppet with deadly accuracy. The puppet was struck by its own leg on chest part and was sent sprawling to the ground. Naruto then turned his attention at the two dumbfounded Uchiha beside him. "Itachi, Shisui." The two Uchihas turned to their attention to the Uzumaki. "Burn it." He ordered in commanding tone, it was not a request.

Itachi and Shisui didn't know why but for a moment they fear for their life of what Naruto would do if they didn't do as he said. It was Aizen who interrupted their train of thought, "Naruto-kun! Don't be so hasty, it's not that bad!"

Naruto was not convinced, "Burn it,dattebayo." He repeated icily, his blue eyes never left the abomination.

Aizen was quickly reminded of one thing his late teacher who was lucky enough to know Mito-sama had warned him about Uzumaki. There was one warning all seal masters who had ever known an Uzumaki personally would always say. You shall ** _not_** make an Uzumaki repeat themselves for the _third_ time when it comes to fuuinjutsu, you nod, shut up, and do as they said before they tear you a new mouth for back talking them in their expertise.

"Itachi-kun! Shisui-kun! Quick!" Aizen pressed the two Uchihas on. "Burn it! Do as Naruto-kun said!"

Itachi and Shisui decided that they didn't want to know why Aizen suddenly started singing different tune so they went to the puppet in record time and turned it to firewood with **Goukakyu no Jutsu**. Naruto trotted to the fire and threw all identical seal with one on the puppet he had on his person to the fire. Itachi and Shisui looked at the Uzumaki in bewilderment then to the burning puppet and tags. Naruto smiled eerily at the occupant of the training ground, a smile that was known as Uzumaki's trademark smile that said as a sign for flee on sight in the first Great Shinobi war when an Uzumaki was pissed. Especially when the verbal tic came out from their mouth. He had been pretty confused why Naruto didn't have Uzumaki main family's verbal tic, a tic they spouted when being emotional. Uzumakis usually were very emotional when they were young, most calmed down when they reached adulthood and the verbal tic came out only when they were pissed off or excited. They were known natural disaster when pissed even without bijuu.

"We never see this." He decided in resolute voice. "We didn't see anything, dattebayo." He chirped cheerfully.

 _He decided to just pretend that the abomination never exist?!_ The thought in disbelief. But of course no one dared to protest, "Of course Naruto-kun!" Aizen agreed readily, and Shisui wondered why Sandaime assigned a man without a backbone to tutor a freaking Uzumaki.

* * *

Actually Shisui worried about nothing, as when it comes to Fuuinjutsu, Aizen was a competent teacher. "So this symbol represents propagation." Aizen muttered as he expertly finished the last stroke for 雲(kumo) on the scroll. Aizen's writing was smoother and somewhat had a slight overt flourishes. Unlike Naruto's writing, which was simple, written as precisely as he could and sometimes sloppy because of inexperience. "And this is symbol of tranquility which represented by 雨(ame) rain... blessed shower from the sky."

Naruto nodded as he copied the alphabet to his scroll, "Hm... why the first layer high level seal that direct chakra used weather? I always wonder why..." All seal Naruto had created so far was simpler in nature, while creative the level was only C or D. Aizen had evaluated his skill, and decided it was time to teach Naruto components for higher ranked seal. Naruto had a very strong basic skill, but his experience was limited to lower rank seal like explosion tag and flash tag.

Aizen tapped his finger, "Because high level seal is very volatile most of the time, and while sometimes an unstable seal works it's better to be stable. And for that... we need harmony which is what weather symbol were part of. The nature itself is the personification of harmony... earth." Aizen lowered his hand as his right palm faced the ground. "And the sky." His left palm was upward, facing the ceiling of their study room.

Azure eyes trailed up and down, absorbing knowledge his teacher gave him like sponge. "Harmony... "

Aizen nodded, "Hai... our world is made of harmony of sky and earth." He cleared his throat, "It's said that The sage of sixth path's greatest technique used the concept of yin and yang... in which he created the world we live in."

"So... he is a god?" Naruto asked curiously, ignoring Kurama's mental snicker because Naruto knew the answer.

"Close." Aizen corrected, "It's not like he created the world from scratch, more like creating the order for the new world with knowledge about chakra."

 ** _'A gift human foolishly abuse with slaughter throughout the century.'_** _Kurama growled out, **'Old man would have turning on his grave if he had one.'** _ A wise decision in his part, Kurama thought.

 _'Unfortunately I can't argue with that.'_ Naruto thought forlornly. Maybe one day human could escape from this loop? Who knows?

"Uzumaki-sama." Naruto turned his head to the side, a boy who was Shisui's age was holding a tray of snack and steaming tea. "You and Aizen-taichou have been studying for hours. I presume you would like a refreshment." He had short pale sandy blond hair and greyish blue eyes. His skin was fair, and he had a distinct short eyebrow that almost resemble short tip of brush. He was wearing a dark grey kimono that parted until his chest, his chest and abdomen were wrapped in bandage.

"Ah... Tokusa-kun." Aizen called and from the corner of his eyes Naruto could tell the slight twitch on his master's eye voiced displeasure that Tokusa had clearly put Aizen was below Naruto in status.

Naruto always felt nervous whenever Tokusa or anyone from the boy's clan, the Shiomitsus were with him when Aizen was in vicinity. Tokusa was part of a seal master clan who specialize in weaponized application, meaning they used seals to enhance weapon thus they were also a clan of blacksmith. Shiomitsu clan by any means was not hostile in fact Naruto was pretty unnerved when he was introduced to the rest of the tower member, Shiomitsu clans looked very close to prostrate themselves on the floor on the sight of him. Naruto's paranoia came back three folds when he realized that for unknown reason he was stuck in some sort of political struggle in the tower, between Tokusa's clan and Aizen's subordinates.

At first he thought he could just mind his business and let them sort the problem themselves. But NO, for some reason their problem centered on him. Shiomitsu clan had unofficially assigned Tokusa to be Naruto's retainer, and how insistent they were leave no room for argument. The next thing Naruto knew, both side never leave him alone with someone from their opposition. If Naruto was studying with Aizen, Tokusa would somehow there to study on his own of bringing refreshment. While it didn't bother him that much, he was not used to be the center of attention, especially when Aizen and Tokuse discreetly glaring at each other.

Aizen might be the head of the tower, but apparently he didn't have complete control over everyone especially Shiomitsu clan. Naruto guessed it was like Senju-Uchiha thing, since from what read in record clans and families that involved in tower were always the same from generation to generation since Uzumaki Mito's founding of the division. He just hoped it was not centered on him for whatever wacky reason they had other than he was related to their founder, and it won't end up anywhere as badly as Senju-Uchiha one.

"Uzumaki-sama!" Tokusa chirped.

Naruto paused in mid of stirring his tea, "Ah yes, Tokusa? What is it?" He had learned to speak very carefully when these two were in the same room. Especially when Aizen had his katana with him, and Tokusa had his glove on his belt. No fight broke yet, but it was clear with them carrying it around they were not above using it.

"Hakurei-shisou found the reference scroll you wanted." He informed the blond boy excitedly, "There's a couple of interesting scrolls in our family achieve we think would help in your next project too."

Naruto beamed at that, "Ah I see... then."

Aizen chose that moment to cut in, "There's sample of grade A ink arrive recently, we should try it. And I am sure in my family achieve we have better reference scroll."

_Oh, shit._

"Eeh... " Naruto started to sweat under their intense gaze. Aizen seemed like he didn't realize his pleasant mentor mask was slipping whenever a Shiomitsu was in vicinity. "Tomorrow morning I have a training session with Itachi and Shisui." Naruto didn't miss the flinch on Tokusa's face when he mentioned his Uchiha friends. It seemed Shiomitsu clan didn't like Uchiha, and Shisui almost kidnapped him so Tokusa won't follow them to training ground. Naruto had to beg for Tokuza to leave hm with the Uchihas, and assured the boy he was completely safe with Itachi and Shisui. Itachi who was the more diplomatic one of the two even offered to swear an oath of protection, which soundly refused by Naruto because Itachi had nothing to prove to his unofficial retainer. Tokusa in the end relented, but he still had a glare match with Shisui whenever the two met face to face.

"From there Tokusa's home is closer so I will go to your place first." Tokusa nodded happily, "On the way back to tower I will walk pass shishou's place, and shisou usually will be at home around six right?"

Aizen nodded, "Yes."

"I will be there then." Naruto caught Tokusa looked at him pleadingly and he knew the teen wanted to follow him to Aizen's. Considering he would be in Tokusa's before Aizen's, and how the Shiomitsu clan was going to beg for the same thing later... "With Tokusa." He added reluctantly. Naruto closed his eyes and pretended he didn't hear the snapping sound of calligraphy brush. Yep! It was just the third brush for this week.

* * *

**The Next Day**

"You looks like a walking dead man." Shisui commented as he and Itachi walked the blond to their favorite training ground.

Naruto glared at Shisui heatedly, "I am sorry if I spent two months indoor." He drawled sardonically, and the stupid politic struggle didn't help! "Kami! My whole body feels heavy like lead! Even if other seal masters in the tower likes indoor so much, I honestly don't." After spending a few weeks with Shisui, Naruto could say there's no harm to act like himself. Shisui was too hotheaded and carefree to plot anything traitorous, and his personality made him a pleasant person to be around and a convenient target to butt head with.

Shisui lifted his hands in placating gesture, he didn't to be a target for Uzumaki's ire. He would have pity that wooden puppet if it was alive, which is why it was very lucky to be dead. "No need to be so pissy Naruto, can't you ask Aizen-dono to take your lessons outside once in a while?"

Itachi and Naruto whipped their heads at his direction so fast, that he thought their neck was going to snap. **"Are you nuts?"** They asked in disbelief.

The shushin expert raised an eyebrow, "Eh, what's wrong with my suggestion?"

"I told you I am starting on experimental seal! One I make from scratch!" Naruto informed him, "Doing it outside is like sticking an explosion tag on my face!"

The older Uchiha titled his head to the side "How come?"

Itachi face-palmed, then again he didn't expect Shisui to learn at least the basic safety procedure of Fuuinjutsu when he could. "Naruto-kun, just tell him why it's a suicidal idea."

Naruto sighed, "Hm... first of all fuuinjutsu is a very volatile art when it comes to experimenting the creation." Naruto waved his finger to emphasize his point, "When we tried to make a new seal we need a lot of preparations to make sure we have made every possible safety measures we could. Since Fuuinjutsu can be affected by a lot of things if you're not careful." He craned his neck to the side, "Especially for a disciple like me who just started." He pointed to his face, "I need to set up special barrier seal, the same one we have in chakra sterile room in the tower. It's meant to help isolate the chosen space from ambient chakra in nature so that fuuinjutsu performed in the middle isn't affected by the environment. Unlike other shinobi arts, the process of chakra molding happen outside of our body so it could be affected by nature chakra." Naruto huffed.

"Oh... so that's why," Shisui said flatly. If Naruto was to judge, he'd say his explanation didn't rate very highly on a scale of usefulness in Shisui's book.

The young seal master shook his head, "There's no way Shishou will let me to take lessons outside, especially at this time of the year."

"This time of the year?" Shisui repeated.

While Itachi's eyes lightened up in cognizance. "Ah I see... Obon is next week right?"

The curly haired Uchiha crossed his arms, "Now you lost me, why Fuuinjutsu have anything to do with ghosts visiting our house?"

"Eeh..." Naruto sweat-dropped at him, "Aren't you a pretty good sensor shinobi, Shisui?"

"Yeah?"

Itachi and Naruto looked at each other, then Itachi spoke out their query. "Don't you feel different when it's around this time of the year? Feels like it's harder to sense people chakra, and how the air feels heavy?"

Shisui looked thoughtful before he answered. "Kind of but I thought it's because the heat."

Itachi's left eye twitched, "At this time of the year nature chakra is on its peak, Konoha's nature energy become comparable even to sacred place like Myōbokuzan. It's a very dangerous time to attempt untested Fuuinjutsu outside of controlled environment." He explained in solemn tone.

"But if you're good, and you're attempting nature based seal... it's the best time of the year for you." Naruto added with a grin.

"Oh that's why..." Shisui hummed as he eyed Naruto skeptically, "But still, you have no plan to root in the tower like your fellow seal masters." Naruto nodded at that, "You need to move more... I see you manage to keep yourself from becoming stiff with stretching and light exercise, but it won't be enough to keep your body in top shape."

Itachi nodded, "I have to agree with Shisui on this Naruto-kun, can't you arrange so you can squeeze some time for taijutsu practice at least?"

Naruto groaned, "I wish I could."

"For one, you need more sun." Shisui quipped, "Do you know that the lack of exposure to sun could cause depression?"

The blond scoffed, "I don't need sun as much as I need more of me."

"... What?" Shisui drawled.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I wish I can _'split'_ myself so I can study seals and training physical stuff in the same time." He said wishfully, and then maybe Aizen's men and Tokusa's clan would stop. He had no wish to be disputed over in the tower as bone on contention. He raised an eyebrow at the intense stare Itachi and Shisui gave him. Considering Uchiha had sharp jet black eyes, it was pretty unnerving. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Itachi and Shisui turned their attention to each other, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Shisui asked with a grin.

Itachi nodded, "Most likely."

The shushin expert grinned then turned to Naruto, Itachi looked at him with stoic face but Naruto could see there's the same strange glint in their jet black eyes. "Have you heard of Kage Bunshin, Naruto-kun?" He asked, rubbing his hands together with a grin on his face.

"Eh?"

* * *

Shisui was bristling as he watched five blond clones toddled above the water surface, three on the three and the other two were reading scrolls. "Ten! Ten at once! And he did it as easy as breathing!"

"Hn." Itachi nodded.

"I can only do two! And that will leave me winded for the rest of the day!" He ranted in frustrated tone.

Itachi shrugged, "Hn."

Shisui gave his cousin a side glance, "He didn't even use his tenant right? I can't feel demon chakra at all, he is a natural chakra power house even without it."

"Hn."

"Natural for an Uzumaki I guess." Shisui added tiredly. "I wish I have that much chakra to throw around."

"You know..." The real Uzumaki called them from his perch on the tree, "I can't hear your conversation from here, but I can tell Itachi only said 'Hn' to you in response and yet you converse as if he gave you a complete sentence!" He pointed out with dumbfounded face, "I thought 'hn' is some sort of stock response you guys give whenever you don't have anything else to say."

Shisui snorted, "There's a broad meaning in the _hn_ of Uchiha."

Itachi rolled his eyes, as he walked closer to Naruto while Shisui continued his postponed reading of the fire jutsu scroll on his lap. "Basically what you said, I didn't feel like replying Shisui." The Uchiha prodigy said. "It's a habit that plagued Uchiha like a curse."

Naruto rolled his eyes then whispered, tapping his belly discreetly. "Apparently the curse have been for generations since the genesis of shinobi world. I don't think it's genetic like Uzumaki verbal tic, but more like kids miming their parent kind of thing so..." He took a deep breath, "If I ever grunt like you do in your vicinity, please whack me on the head as hard as you can. Because my tenant don't want me to pick up any Uchiha's habit _at all_ and you know how racist he was."

Itachi nodded, "At any rate... about kage bunshin's memory advantage, if you..."

"I know." Naruto cut him off. "It's about my psychological age, isn't it?"

The Uchiha nodded again, it seemed after they showed him how to do Kage Bunshin a day before Naruto had researched the jutsu himself. Naruto had a paranoia of a seasoned ANBU, cautious and alert to his surrounding even in his sleep. Itachi acknowledge that as part of physiology wound, the years of negligence had brought upon the young jinchuuriki. Kage Bunshin at first seemed to be an innocent solution to Naruto's problem, it was not until Shisui finished showing Naruto the hand seal that the consequences crashed on his mind. Kage Bunshin's memory would be transferred to the user, which making it an excellent espionage tool when used right, and free risk aside from chakra drain. However when a chakra power house like Naruto used it, there's no way Naruto wouldn't abuse the technique. It was not a wrong thing to do though, since it was like saying abusing sharingan's copy ability as wrong. Naruto however had matured psychologically beyond his age, Kage Bunshin would make the maturing process faster. Naruto still had childish tendency once in a while, but at this rate Naruto would lose that little innocence he had left.

Itachi always saw Naruto as a friend, and painfully aware it was not as a younger friend but someone equal. It won't be a bad thing per se, if Naruto was already wearing a headband and older. Naruto was the same age as Sasuke, but after their first meeting that simple fact never cross Itachi's mind. At one point Itachi forgot this boy was four years younger than him like Sasuke was, and _not_ fellow shinobi his age.

And yet...

"Oi Itachi!"

He was snapped out of his thought when he felt a fist drilling to his left temple playfully, Naruto was hanging from a branch upside down with his fist on Itachi's temple. "What are you doing?"

Naruto sighed, crossing his arms. "Don't overthinking it." He warned him, "You always do that. It's no wonder you have stress lines under your eyes already when you haven't even hit puberty yet."

Itachi stared at Naruto in disbelief, his younger friend always said the strangest thing out of nowhere and bluntly. "What do you know about puberty?"

Naruto tapped his chin, then looked at Shisui who was practicing his katon technique. "What's Shisui is going through for one, and no thanks to my tenant to tell me what is it and that I could find a book about it if I am curious." He shook his head, "That teach me for being too curious."

Itachi just smiled at that, "I see..."

"There's no use to cry over spilled milk." Naruto muttered as Itachi looked up at him. "In the first place..." He closed his eyes, "I have little choice when it comes to my life since the day I was born, even entering ninja academy is not my choice."

"Eh?"

Naruto smiled bitterly, "I am an orphan, there's little choices to survive... and my heritage and status are assets Konoha won't ever let go."

The very same reason he was enrolled early like Naruto to academy, brimming potential they couldn't afford to waste while the child had no say in the matter. "Ah... I see..."

"A-ah!" Naruto waved his finger warningly, "What did I say about stressing your mind over little things? One in the past nonetheless?" Naruto huffed, "We're prodigies right? That what they said at least." He grumbled under his breath, "While we do have the brainpower, it's not necessarily the wisdom to put it to good use... we still have a long future ahead. Just take it in stride, shall we?" Naruto hopped off of his perch and landed beside Itachi. "Beside... you'll be with me to face it, wouldn't you?"

His lips curved up to a small and barely noticeable smile, one Naruto had seen a couple of times which speak louder than anything. "Of course."

Naruto thought his halcyon days won't end so soon, that he was never willing to let it go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiomitsu came from archaic names shiomitsu-tama 潮満珠 "tide-flowing jewel, and guess what their role is? Or where they came from originally? They're not OC, I just take them from Lemurian clan in Saint Seiya universe. Naruto needs minions damn it!
> 
> For those who have rage over Aizen's existence in this story, rest assured! You only need to endure him in this chapter dattebayo!
> 
> And before anyone ask, NO, NO sharingan for Naruto! I just want to add more reasons why the three clans Uchiha, Senju and Uzumaki are giant cluster of menace with their family feud. I myself could laugh when I summarize what happened in the valley of the end. Madara in particular deserve to be eaten by Kurama.


	6. Shattered Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably the best chapter I wrote, or at least I think so! And I cried when writing it like an idiot! Rewatching episode of Minato and Kushina's last moment with Naruto didn't help! I keep crying waterfall!
> 
> As usual, yaoi fangirls and boys… you can interpret any scene as you wish. But this fic is not yaoi damn it!
> 
> BTW there's an interlude which is about seal tower people and their relationship with Naruto... I should put it in previous chapter but damn... it's too troublesome!
> 
> UPDATE 18-03-13: erasing unnecessary scene and fixing dialogue
> 
> UPDATE 19-03-13: Beta-ed by Supreme Dream, there's some changes and so on but in general just trying to fix OOC-ness I spotted.  
> BTW while I don't mind critiques, if you can give sign up review it would be wonderful... I am not going to bite anyone's head off over critiques, but please state your reasons... elaborate your opinion so I am not left clueless of why it sucks.

**Interlude, Uzumaki Naruto in their perspective.**

**Hinamori**

Hinamori loved her kouhai. He was such a beautiful little boy with big, azure eyes and soft, blond hair. She recognized him right away as the jailor of the Kyuubi, and was thankful the poor boy was safe in the tower and away from vengeful villagers. She sometimes wondered if she would've hated the boy like a clueless civilian had she not been a seal master. However, one look at those azure eyes convinced her that she wouldn't have, no demon could have those lonely, doe eyes.

She at first thought to treat him like a little brother. After all, Naruto was an orphan; he would love to have an older sister to take care of him. That illusion shattered the moment Yuzuriha and Tokusa blatantly showed their submission to the boy and treated him like a prince. He always looked uncomfortable whenever the Shiomitsus were showering him with attention, so Hinamori always had to take the initiative and tell them to leave the poor child alone. The argument that ensued then escalated into a childish scuffle that left them wondering why they were fighting in the first place. At that point, they would begin to argue about who Naruto would rather spend time with.

It was usually ended forcefully by Naruto with him pointing out he wouldn't want to spend time either of them if they kept arguing over trivial things. The child of the group acted more mature than they did, and it left Hinamori feeling ashamed enough to call a temporary truce with the Shiomitsus. None of them had the right to spend time with Uzumaki-sama.

**Tokusa**

The Uzumaki clan had always been at the top of the seal master hierarchy, but he was not happy when his master told him the new student was an Uzumaki that had to be treated like royalty. When he first met Uzumaki Naruto, Tokusa's first impression was that the boy was a walking contradiction. He had expected someone from the Uzumaki line to be loud, brash, and obnoxious but a brilliant seal master. Sure, Uzumaki Naruto was a cheerful child, but he was reserved, polite, and always seemed to be in control of his emotions. His hair was blond and not the signature red of the Uzumaki's, and his eyes were not a steel blue but azure. The only Uzumaki trait in him was his talent for fuuinjutsu.

Tokusa spent most of his time as Naruto's retainer, regardless of whether he liked it or not, because it was his master's order. It was bearable since the boy didn't act like a pampered prince. In fact, Naruto rarely asked him for anything, and the first thing he ever did ask of him was unforgettable.

"Could you help me with this, Tokusa?" Naruto asked innocently.

Initially, he had called Tokusa his senpai, but the older boy had insisted Naruto drop the suffix. "Ah," Tokusa eyed the scroll skeptically, "of course, but… I don't think I'm good enough to help you, Uzumaki-sama."

Naruto frowned at him. "I don't know what delusions you have about me or my clan," he stated coolly, "but I'm not the almighty prodigy who doesn't need any help from my senior."

Tokusa stammered, "I didn't mean to offend…"

"You didn't offend anyone, Tokusa. Now… are you going to stand there all day or start helping me?" Naruto asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Seriously, if you don't like my company... just tell Hakurei that a job as my retainer sucks."

The older seal master looked at Naruto in disbelief. "But that's…"

Naruto sighed. "You know… I'm not used to this 'making friends' thing." He looked thoughtful as he contemplated his next words. "Maybe we should talk this over during afternoon tea?" he wondered out loud.

"Making friends?" Tokusa echoed awkwardly. "You want to be my friend, Uzumaki-sama?"

Naruto nodded. "I'm trying," he admitted sheepishly, "but it's not working well considering the first friend I made was Itachi, and he is unlike most people." He sighed wearily. "And Shisui… is Shisui," he trailed off. "So yeah… how does making friends work?" he asked sheepishly.

"Why do you want to be my friend?" Tokusa couldn't help but ask.

"Ugh… no particular reason, but maybe it's because I think I have a chance to be your friend," Naruto admitted sheepishly, and Tokusa had to wonder why he worded it that way. It sounded like, like… Tokusa flinched inwardly as he remembered the young boy's status as a jinchuuriki. Friends must be a luxury to the Uzumaki, and in spite of his new founded royal status in the tower, Naruto didn't act like a stuck up prince. "Eh… maybe it would be easier if you weren't working as a retainer or whatever Hakurei asked you to be."

Tokusa blinked. "But… Uzumaki-sama…"

Naruto sighed. "You know what, Tokusa? Your job sucks, and I don't know why you put up with it. So what I'm an Uzumaki and related to the founder? I'm still a beginner seal master and a kouhai to you. I don't deserve the respect you and your clan give me…" He shook his head when Tokusa was about to protest. "Until I become a great seal master that lives up to my clan's legacy… I don't deserve it. Respect is earned, not given because of my name…"

Tokusa looked into the azure eyes and saw, not deceit, but actual sincerity. His mouth opened – closed – opened again, then promptly closed. The next thing Tokusa knew, he was on the floor kneeling in front of the young child. "You have earned my respect, Uzumaki-sama! I beg you to keep me as your retainer even though I am unworthy of such a glorious position!"

Naruto backed away. "But… I thought…"

"Of course I will be your friend if you so wish!" Naruto felt relieved. "I don't mind becoming your dog either!"

Naruto face-palmed at that. "Tokusa… I think you should stop this train of…"

"I pledge my loyalty to you for the rest of my life," Tokusa vowed, looking hopefully at the jinchuuriki.

Naruto wondered how one should handle this kind of proposal and decided to take the simplest method. "Eh… thank you?" the Uzumaki tried, and judging from how Tokusa was beaming with joy, it was the correct answer... hopefully.

**Yuzuriha**

If anyone asked how Uzumaki Naruto had won her loyalty, they would laugh because it was not from girly adoration like Hinamori or the acceptance he showed Tokusa. He gained her loyalty through one, simple sentence uttered during her taijutsu practice.

She hadn't expected him to walk past the training ground with his Uchiha friends and say, "you will be a good front line seal master, Yuzuriha." He had eyed the seal arrays on her long scarf enthusiastically. "That's an amazing wind element seal."

It was a simple compliment, but one she had never received from anyone. Due to smaller chakra reserves, females tended to have less accessible chakra and weaker stamina. They were not usually suited to be on the front lines as a seal master. Yuzuriha had worked hard to perfect her physical skills and fuuinjutsu, but not even her master believed she could succeed. And yet he believed in her – had even given her a casual compliment as he walked by. Yuzuriha had spent days coming to terms with her newly found feelings. After all, it wasn't every day you realized you had a crush on a seven-year-old boy.

* * *

**6th Legacy: Shattered Dream**

**"There are many things I'd be willing to give for this village, but you and Itachi aren't it..."**  
_Uzumaki Naruto  
_

_Azure eyes peeked through the lens of a camera. A grin was etched onto his handsome face as he waved to the beautiful red head who sat on the sofa. "Kushina! Smile, my dear!"_

_"If I smile any wider I'll look stupid, dattebane!" Kushina huffed, pouting at her husband. "Now come over here! Hurry up, Minato!"_

_Minato grinned as he came from behind the camera and approached his wife. He knelt in front of her and placed his ear on her bulging stomach. "Oh… our boy is kicking again," he muttered fondly._

_Kushina just smiled at him. "Are you sure you want to pose like this for the camera? If your enemies see you they will cancel that flee on sight order," she giggled._

_The camera flashed and the picture was taken._

_Minato looked up, grinning from ear to ear. "I don't care… right now, I just want to be your idiot husband and father of our son, not the cool and smooth Yellow Flash of Konoha."_

_Kushina laughed softly at that. "Oh, Minato… I'm afraid you're going to spoil our son rotten."_

_"I will!" Minato promised, laughing softly when he felt another kick. "I can't wait to meet you, too, my dear son…"_

_"You hear that, my little prince?" Kushina cooed as she rubbed her bulging stomach. "We will shower you with love the moment you're born..." she laughed softly. "I just hope we don't suffocate you with it."_

_That dream of a perfect, little family never came true._

_"_ _Naruto… you're going to experience a lot of pain and suffering. Remember who you are! Find a goal… a dream… and don't stop trying until it comes true.  
There's… there's so much more that I want to say… to teach you…  
I want to stay with you… I love you._ _"_

 _"Naruto… this is your dad. Listen… to your motor-mouth mother. I second everything she's said..._ "

_"We wish we could be there for you to watch you grow up… but… don't forget we'll always love you."_

Naruto opened his azure eyes, gasping for breath as he sat up. "Haa…" It hurt so much; this suffocating grief was gnawing at him. He had accepted that he was an orphan a long time ago. However, knowing his parents had loved him so much made his heart hurt whenever he was slammed back into reality.

 _ **"The memory is torturing you."**_ Coming from Kurama, it was a statement. _**"You should stop letting it invade your dreams."**_

Naruto shook his head. _'No… no, Kurama. I want it…"_

 _ **"But…!"**_ the fox protested.

 _'Please… let me have this memory. I want to feel loved… Let me have this selfish, childish longing, please…"_ Naruto begged as he hugged himself. _"I promise I will not trouble you… just let it be!'_

 _ **"Heh… you're still a child."**_ Despite his words, Kurama wasn't heartless enough to meddle with the memory and deprive Naruto of the only connection to his parents. The boy treasured every memory he had, so he deserved at least that much. He just hoped his vessel would stay strong. As a bijuu he could protect his vessel's mind to an extent, but he couldn't perform miracles.

This was entirely their fault, Kurama decided. The demon fox had to wonder at the wisdom of hiding so many things from the child. The only reason Kurama didn't reveal anything to Naruto about his parents was because he felt that the old Kage should take responsibility for all the secrets. It was bad enough Naruto found out about his jinchuuriki status on his own, so Kurama would be damned if the Hokage didn't regret his foolishness at all. Then again, Kurama could tell Naruto had realized who his parents were – at least the identity of his father anyway. After all, the dream had become more vivid with each passing day.

Just know it wasn't his fault if it blew up in their faces later.

* * *

"Congratulations, Naruto-kun!" The Sandaime said as he handed Naruto a headband of Konoha.

Naruto looked down at the headband, tracing the Konoha symbol inscribed on the metal surface with his fingers, and then turned to the smiling, old Kage. "Oh." Should he be happy? "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He bowed in respect then turned to his shishou and did the same.

Sandaime frowned. "You don't seem happy with your promotion, Naruto-kun," he pointed out.

The jinchuuriki stiffened. "It's just... about the genin teams…." Naruto looked up with determined eyes. "If possible, I don't want to be on a team for the time being."

"I see." He didn't question him. Sandaime could see the reason as plain as day why Naruto didn't want to be a part of a genin team. He was the youngest genin they had in their ranks now, and if he was put on a team it would be with older genin. Naruto hadn't had the best experience when dealing with those older genin, especially since his academy days of being bullied were still fresh in his mind. Being classmates was one thing, being teammates was quite another. A team was supposed be composed of shinobi you trusted, but Naruto couldn't trust so easily.

Sandaime nodded. "You can continue working in the tower, Naruto-kun."

His eyes lit up at the prospect. "I can?"

"Of course. You're already a specialist and your skills as a seal master is highly valued. Besides, Aizen would be sad to see his precious disciple leave anytime soon," the Hokage assured.

Naruto beamed. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

* * *

It was no secret Naruto had somehow managed to graduate from the academy.

So when the villagers had shunned and glared at Naruto even more harshly, they had expected some type of reaction, not indifference. He didn't even show his ire through his pranks like he had in the past. It's true that his pranks were annoying, but his indifferent behavior was downright irritating. Itachi and Shisui had heard a civilian ranting about how the demon child had raised an eyebrow at him when the he glared heatedly at the jinchuuriki. Apparently, civilians who tried to voice their hatred with a glare or a muttered insult felt like they were being treated like an idiot by the jinchuuriki.

Especially after that one incident where a genin had deliberately blocked Naruto's path. The genin had glared at Naruto and told the jinchuuriki to watch where he was going. Naruto, at that time, had just spent the whole night writing a report and had been really tired. All he'd been craving for was his bed, but he'd had to deliver the report to the Hokage personally. And so Naruto had flippantly retorted that, "Only idiots stand in the middle of the sidewalk and get pissed when people walked into them. Idiots~ all of you!" And then the jinchuuriki had stormed off, leaving behind a dumbfounded genin and villagers.

The Hokage had had a mild panic attack that day when he received a report from ANBU saying that Naruto might have lost his patience and snapped. Naruto had quickly assured the Hokage that he was just tired and badly needed some sleep. When reprimanded for calling the villagers idiots, Naruto hadn't apologize at all and said, "They shouldn't be offended if it's not true." The Hokage had just sighed.

He would have said more about how insults were not the right way to deal with civilians, but Naruto had promptly passed out on the floor of his office. That ended their conversation splendidly. The Hokage had then ordered Tori and his squad to take Naruto back to the tower. It was then he realized that Naruto, for some reason, was using sarcasm to express his ire. Naruto, who woke up the next day, apologized to the Sandaime and said he wished he could say the same to the offended party. Sandaime could tell it wasn't exactly a sincere apology but one that was expressed to keep up appearances.

The old Kage didn't even realize in his relief about Naruto not snapping that the boy was growing indifferent to their opinions.

* * *

Autumn was the season of harvest where leaves in Konoha's forest changed to mirror the colors of sunset. According to the civilians, it was a season of literature, gourmet, and sports. To the shinobi population, it was just another season that forced them to adapt their camouflage techniques. Shisui, though, couldn't have cared less about half of that. He felt it was just a season of good food where he had to watch his diet to avoid overeating. He did have to keep his ideal body after all, though it wasn't for cosmetic purposes of course. So his mind failed at understanding why Itachi's little prodigy friend thought it was a good season to simply watch the leaves fall. It was not like the blond neglected his training, but at some point in the start of autumn, the boy always allowed himself or a clone to stare at the falling leaves.

He used to get how the gears in Naruto's mind worked…

But now it seemed the boy had transformed into some kind of genius, which was probably why he didn't understand the brat anymore. It was either that or the blond jinchuuriki had gone absolutely bonkers. "Naruto." This time it was the real one who watched the leaves. "Are you okay?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course I am. Why do you ask?"

"You're watching leaves fall like a Nara watching clouds," Shisui pointed out.

"I'm trying to figure out something, silly." Naruto scoffed as he watched a yellow leaf fall in front of his face. "You know… all these leaves fall to the ground in different fashions… flipping as if dancing in the air... "

Shisui blinked owlishly at the blond. "Since when you did you start speaking poetically. On second thought, you and Itachi seem to like being cryptic."

"Don't speak as though I'm not here," Itachi said to his cousin from his seat on the branch above Naruto's.

"We're ninja," Naruto replied flippantly before turning his attention back on the leaves. "Aah... it's already been half a year. Time flies so fast. It's already October."

Shisui grinned. "Speaking of October, your birthday's soon." Naruto flinched at that. "Is there anything you want? We can celebrate with cake!"

"Shisui!" Itachi hissed.

"I don't feel like celebrating when a majority of Konoha is visiting gravesites." Shisui blanched at the deadpan tone Naruto used. "Besides, the only thing I know about my parents is that their death anniversary is October 10th." Neither Uchiha could hide their flinch at the reminder. "If anything I would visit their graves, but I don't know where they are unfortunately."

Sarcasm was dripping from his voice, but both knew it was not aimed at them but at all of those who kept the information from him. Shisui didn't know anything about Naruto's parents, and while Itachi did know a bit, he had no right to give out that information. Itachi sometimes wished the Hokage hadn't resorted to such extreme measures to keep Naruto's heritage a secret. Everything had been going so well lately that they'd forgot October was anything but a pleasant month for Naruto. In fact, since October 1st, Naruto had refused to step out into the city or any other crowded area in Konoha, especially with the villagers' growing ire.

Naruto cackled at the worry evident on their faces. "I'm not going to refuse a bowl of Ichiraku ramen, and presents would be nice," he assured them. "No cake and candle blowing though."

Itachi's eyes softened at his young friend. "That's fine."

"Besides... if I refused presents, everyone in the tower would be disappointed," he said with a sigh. "They've tried to be discreet, but... the Shiomitsus in particular have been not-so-subtlety implying I'd be wonderful with a sword if I took up kenjutsu."

Shisui rubbed the back of his head. "If it's just basic kenjutsu I think we can teach you. We're no masters, but we're proficient."

"I haven't said anything about adding kenjutsu to my arsenal," Naruto pointed out. "I'm in the process of creating a fighting style that suits me, and I want to base it on what I already have."

Itachi smiled at that as he swung down from the tree and landed on his feet. "You don't have to create an entirely new fighting style... you can base it off an existing one and work on how to make it yours."

"The fighting style I know best is the Uchiha style, because you two are my main training partners." Most of the time he lost, which was why he wanted to develop a style of his own. "Though, Yuzuriha and Tokusa spar with me sometimes." Yuzuriha was Tokusa's older sister and basically looked like an older, female version of Tokusa with a ponytail. "Their fighting style involves a lot of kicks and wide attacks."

"Which is not for a midget with short limbs like you." Shisui grinned from ear to ear.

Naruto glared at the curly haired Uchiha, crossing his arms as he stood up from his seat. "How mature. A fourteen-year-old shinobi is teasing an eight-year-old about his height."

Itachi sighed, not even bothering to point out that Naruto, at some point, had grown taller and was already taller than Sasuke by a few inches if his estimations were correct. It was not surprising considering Naruto's diet. It was the healthiest menu Itachi had ever seen, especially since Naruto cooked his food himself. He had even seen Naruto drink a carton of milk in one go like it was water. It seemed Shisui's teasing about his height really bothered Naruto. Speaking of growing, there was one thing that really bothered him.

The Uchiha prodigy stared at the spiky, golden mess Naruto called hair. "Naruto-kun, I think your hair is getting a bit too long."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "I cut it yesterday with a kunai," Of course with no mirror, "and Yuzuriha also helped. It's slightly longer than my old hair."

"It doesn't get in the way?"

"I can see just fine, and Yuzuriha said it looked good on me," Naruto chalked up his list of reasons. "And besides... who cares about hair? I don't." Actually, a majority of the population cared, because the length of his hair was disturbingly identical to the Yondaime's, especially with how the front locks framed his face.

"If you say so." Itachi mentally noted to tell the Shiomitsu that giving Naruto an identical haircut to his father was a bad idea. Though it was probably pointless since Naruto had no intentions of enduring the hair-cutting process again.

Naruto looked up to a medium sized bird flying in a circle above them; it was probably a dove in training sending a letter. One of its feathers fell from the sky, falling down gently because of its lightness. Naruto's right hand shot out and the feather landed on his palm. He could barely feel the brush of the feather it was so soft and light. When it fell from his hand, it fell slowly. Naruto turned to Shisui, who raised an eyebrow at his grin, and waited until the wind picked up, blowing in Shisui's direction.

"Shisui! Catch!" Naruto shouted as he threw an object at the shunshin expert.

Shisui's eyes widened as he jumped and attempted to catch the small rock Naruto threw at him, but it slipped past his hands. "What was that for?" Shisui asked indignantly. The genjutsu specialist clamped his mouth shut the moment he saw the glint in Naruto's eyes. It was the dreaded _eureka_ glint, which involved troublesome experimenting he loathed to be a part of. The first time he'd been involved was awesome, but the second and the third time...

"Shisui~" Naruto sang cheerfully.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh no, no no no no. Whatever it is I'm not doing it! Forget it! Never! Ever! NO! That's final!"

* * *

**Three days later…**

Naruto was bouncing up and down on a trampoline; feathers he'd scattered all over the trampoline were floating in the air. Itachi and Shisui watched from the sidelines as their young friend bounced for who knows what reason. "So… can you explain what our little prodigy is thinking this time?" Shisui asked curiously. "He's been doing this for hours." Honestly, it didn't look healthy, especially since the trampoline catapulted the boy at least twelve feet into the air. That wasn't a healthy height to be in continuously, even for a ninja.

Itachi shook his head. "No," he answered curtly. "All I know is that he's trying to figure something out."

Shisui huffed, muttering, "Yesterday he asked us to practice kenjutsu with a mechanical fan and the hundreds of feathers he got from ripping pillows..."

Itachi nodded. "It's an interesting exercise." Cutting weightless, floating feathers with a sword was much harder than cutting falling leaves.

Though Itachi really did wonder if the boy was all right…

"Urgh!" Naruto guffawed.

Shisui face-palmed. "Aww shit! I bet Naruto is having the headache of the century!"

Itachi quickly caught the younger boy from midair and dragged him under the shade of a lush tree. Naruto looked awful as he rubbed his throbbing cranium. Itachi offered him a drink which was accepted gratefully. "I feel awful," Naruto admitted wearily.

Shisui groaned. "Of course you feel sick! What the hell were you thinking?"

Itachi sighed, "Shisui… lower your voice. You're not helping his headache."

Naruto nodded in agreement weakly. "Yeah… anyways, I almost got it," he grinned. "It'll be awesome—urk! Excuse me!" Naruto ran to the bush with a hand covering his mouth. He then promptly emptied the contents of his stomach.

Itachi watched Naruto wobble as he tried to stand up straight. Last month, Naruto had doubled his training regime and it was bordering unhealthy. There was obviously something besides creating a new fighting style on Naruto's mind, but Itachi wasn't sure it was wise to pry.

"Itachi…" Shisui called.

"Hn."

Shisui looked down. "Why hasn't he put on his Konoha headband since receiving it from Hokage-sama?" he asked sadly.

Itachi shook his head. "I don't know, but I don't think he wants us to ask." He knew the headband was always in Naruto's pocket, but the blond boy never deigned to wear it.

"And he didn't make a fuss over his genin status either," Shisui pointed out. "He became a genin before his eighth birthday just like you, Itachi! Genin at seven! Even a prodigy like him would be happy for that! Heck! Even you were happy!" The shunshin expert groaned. "We didn't even know he was promoted until we saw the blue cloth of his headband sticking out from his pocket!"

Itachi sighed. "It's probably nothing." Or at least he hoped it was nothing.

* * *

Tokusa and Yuzuriha had been told by the Uchiha cousins about their young master's wishes for his birthday. Although they had to agree it would be unwise to celebrate on a parent's death anniversary, Naruto's parents wouldn't have minded if their son celebrated his birthday. It's just that Naruto was really uncomfortable about it.

"Uh… Naruto-sama," Yuzuriha started, eyeing the young seal master having a tea break with them. "About your birthday…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the scarf wearing kunoichi who was sitting seiza beside her brother in front of his chair. He would never be comfortable with their tradition of 'sitting at a lower level than himself'. "You don't have to be so weary of broaching that subject with me," he assured her as he set down his cup. "And like what I told Itachi and Shisui, you can give me presents… we can eat good food and so on. I just don't want to have cake or candle blowing."

Tokusa shook his head. "But we were thinking about celebrating your birthday on October 11th instead!"

The blond seal master blinked owlishly. "A day late? Why?"

Yuzuriha fidgeted with her scarf, "Well… we thought it would be a good idea! And… it's like celebrating… uhm… the first day of your life! Eh… that didn't sound right…"

"What she meant to say was… late birthday presents aren't bad!" Tokusa rambled.

"Neither is cake! If you think a candle is childish, Naruto-sama, we can just have cake!" Yuzuriha assured him as they continued to ramble on.

Naruto raised his hands to calm them down. "Tokusa, Yuzuriha… you're rambling, calm down." They flushed a deep red, and Naruto chuckled at their reaction. "I'm sorry for being uncooperative about my birthday. I don't think it's a bad idea to celebrate it late… I don't mind the cake or candles either."

Yuzuriha and Tokusa went wide-eyed. "Really?"

There excitement was so innocent it made Naruto wonder who was older here: him or them. And this reaction was all from birthday celebrations… "Yes, of course…" he said in an amused tone as he picked up a napkin. He reached out to clean Tokusa's hair and Yuzuriha's left cheek; they both had gotten orange and white cream in their hair the moment they'd started rambling. They froze when they saw the napkin had frosting on it. "I will leave the cake to you," he assured them. Hopefully, the kitchen would stay intact until his birthday.

They stammered, blushing a deep red. "Hai! Naruto-sama!"

* * *

 **October 10** **th**

**Clink Clank Clink...**

**Clink Clank Clink...**

**Clink Clank Clink...**

**"SHUT UP!"** Kurama roared in the sewer mindscape.

Naruto woke up. "That dream again... full of rattling chains..." Naruto mumbled sleepily. "And Kurama is cranky… What a wonderful start to the day…"

He began his morning with a shower, some morning stretches, and inspecting what he had in his fridge. He would have to ask Tokusa or Yuzuriha to shop for him soon; he only had bread, three apples, a carton of milk, three eggs, a banana and a bowl of leftover salad from last night. His stamina was monstrous, so his body demanded a big consumption of food. He wished he could shop for himself, but he didn't want to deal with irritated vendors in October. It would sour his mood.

It looked like the menu for breakfast today would be omelets with cherry tomatoes inside, French toast, salad and stir-fried apples. Naruto ate his breakfast silently, wondering about the previous day's events. He shouldn't have asked such a thing from Itachi. He troubled the guy enough by simply being his friend. When Naruto finished his breakfast, he had planned to wash the dishes, but there was a knock on his door. Naruto dropped his eating utensils in the sink.

He climbed up the door with chakra and looked through the peephole to see his visitor. He frowned when he saw Aizen smiling, waiting patiently for a response. Naruto opened the door, titling his head to the side. "Ah, Shishou, I didn't expect a visit so early in the morning," he muttered. From the corner of his eyes he noticed Aizen's katana. That was not a good sign.

Aizen just smiled. "I wanted to congratulate my favorite disciple on his eight birthday," he said as he ruffled Naruto's golden locks fondly.

Naruto chuckled softly at that. "I am your only disciple, Shishou."

"Which gives even more reason for you to be my favorite," Aizen added with a smile. "I have a surprise for my disciple today." He leaned in conspiratorially. "It's a secret I'll only share with you."

"Oh!" Naruto put on his childish mask of excitement. "Really, Shishou?" Inwardly, Naruto flinched at how giddy he sounded. _'Ow, this doesn't sound good."_

 _ **"It sounds**_ **so** _ **promising,"**_ Kurama growled irately. _**"If you're going to follow this guy, go prepared at least!"**_

 _'Will do!'_ Naruto nodded when Aizen asked him to come along. "Uhm… can you wait for a few minutes, Shishou? I have a spar planned with Itachi later, so I need to pack up now."

Aizen frowned at that. "I guess you can… we're not going to take long though."

"Thank you!" Naruto rushed back into his room and gathered his storage scrolls, a weapon pouch, and a couple of seals he could use to defend himself.

He returned to the hallway where Aizen was waiting for him and was very surprised to find Hinamori there with him. Hinamori was Aizen's right hand woman, a very young looking female with jet black hair pulled up in a bun and equally dark eyes. Unlike Aizen who he could tell had underhanded objectives, Hinamori was very sincere and adored Naruto like an older sister.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun," Hinamori said as she fervently kissed his cheeks and put a dark orange scarf around his neck gently. "Here is your present! It's been getting cold lately so I made this for you."

"Thank you, Hinamori-neesan," Naruto said to the older girl timidly while seething inwardly. Whatever Aizen was planning, he had a hostage ready. Damn it! "It's very warm…" He grinned cheerfully, while his left hand reached into his left pocket. He channeled a bit of chakra into the first seal he grabbed.

"Let's go, Naruto-kun," Aizen called out.

He nodded. "Let's…" As they walked, he let the seal fall from his hand discreetly. No one noticed as it was burned by a bluish chakra.

* * *

Itachi woke up with an unexplainable sense of foreboding. He was folding his blanket when Sasuke knocked on his door, and Itachi told him to come in. His brother greeted him with a 'good morning' and latched onto his arm, smiling innocently at him. He ruffled Sasuke's black locks fondly and told him to go ahead for breakfast. His little brother was about to walk away, but stopped when a weasel looking haniwa statue above his wardrobe shattered into pieces.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke called him worriedly.

Itachi recalled that the statue was some sort of joke Naruto had given to him and Shisui. He wasn't certain about the origins of it, but he suspected that one of the Shiomitsus gave it to the boy. Inside the haniwa, Naruto had engraved a seal called Kodama (echo), which was a simple seal that would emit chakra when an identical seal was activated. Naruto joked it was some sort of SOS signal, though it wasn't really useable since they didn't know how to activate the seal. Itachi mostly just kept it as a memento of their friendship.

The older Uchiha smiled at Sasuke. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, but tell kaa-san I need to go now," Itachi said as he quickly put his backpack on. His supplies were always ready in case of an emergency.

"But, Nii-san!" Sasuke protested.

Before Itachi jumped from his windowsill, he said, "I'll be back soon!"

The Uchiha scion hopped from roof to roof through the Uchiha complex, and didn't even bat an eye when Shisui joined him. "Ohayo, Itachi!"

"Ohayo," Itachi returned. "So you receive the same signal?"

Shisui growled under his breath, "It's a good thing he never published that echo seal. It could only mean he's in a pretty desperate situation."

* * *

Twenty minutes later they reached the tower and found the Shiomitsus were in a panic. They couldn't find their prodigy anywhere. Itachi approached one of the Shiomitsus – Shion if he recalled correctly – who had long, pale sandy blond hair that seemed to be the dominant hair color of his clan, and was dressed in a dark blue kimono.

"Shion-san." He would have called the man by his surname, but he was not the only Shiomitsu in the vicinity. "What happened?"

Shion looked aghast as he contemplated how to tell Itachi. "Uzumaki-sama is missing… we usually wouldn't be worried since he's always somewhere in the tower, but… this morning when Tokusa went to his room… we found a number of anomalies."

"Such as?" Itachi pressed.

Shion took a deep breath. "His weapon's pouch and storage scrolls were gone." Which meant wherever Naruto went, he was expecting a battle. "His dishes were left unwashed in the sink." He was also in a hurry. "And we found a burned out seal in front of his door." Which couldn't be a good sign at all. "Aizen-dono and Hinamori-san are missing too…"

Shisui gritted his teeth. "Aizen!"

Shion paled. "He couldn't be…" The seal mastered pondered for a moment. "It's his… eight birthday. Oh! Could it be…?"

The shusin expert glared at the seal master, while Itachi stayed silent. "Explain! Why does his disappearance have anything to do with his birthday?!"

"It's… the coming of age for Uzumaki clan... " Shion muttered hesitantly, "There are some seals that could only used by by Uzumaki clan after that transition...""

"…"

"… he probably wants to use Uzumaki-sama for that…"

Shisui's sharingan flashed, "I know that bastard is up to no good!" Itachi had told him to be wary of Aizen, and Shisui trusted Itachi's judgement.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, he could predict the timeline if Naruto had finished his breakfast but he had no time to wash the dishes. Considering his daily schedule that meant Naruto went out around seven, which was a few minutes before Naruto sent his distress signal. Which meant he had been missing for almost one hour. "We should contact Sandaime-sama. We need reinforcement, something suspicious is happening here..."

"That won't be necessary," a familiar cool voice echoed. "We have sent a messenger to Hokage-sama."

Itachi turned around and was relieved to see the familiar mask of his captain. "Tori-taichou..."

Tori craned his neck to the side. "I thought we could celebrate Naruto-kun's birthday today… but here I've heard he was kidnapped. Seriously… I can't leave that boy alone for a minute." The ANBU captain slowly lost his friendly demeanor as killing intent leaked from his body. "If that bastard dares to harm Naruto, he'll pay!"

* * *

The seal tower was actually not as tall as Hokage tower, in fact it was just a three storey cylinder shaped building from outside. Why it was called a tower was simply because it underground level was twenty storey. One could say it towered towards center of earth rather than the sky. They went through a secret passage on the lowest level of the tower, one that ironically resembled the sewer of his mindscape. They arrived on a giant tree stump which was located at the end of the sewer. Naruto eyed the giant seal array carved into the wooden surface likely made by the Shodaime. He had never seen this kind of seal before, but the leftover chakra on it was calling out to him. It was a seal of the Uzumaki clan, a legacy of Uzumaki Mito. It seemed whatever Aizen wanted needed an Uzumaki…

"This is the legacy of your clan, Naruto-kun," Aizen informed, his genial smile firmly in place. "Isn't it amazing?"

Naruto forced a grin. "I can't comprehend this seal at all, but it does looks amazing," he admitted wearily.

Aizen narrowed his eyes and for the first time, Naruto knew he saw a glimpse of the real Aizen in that moment. "You can sense it, can't you… heir of the Uzumaki clan?"

Naruto couldn't help but back away when Aizen released killing intent. His eyes widened when he saw the man move. "Hinamori! Get away from him!" he shouted in panic.

Hinamori looked nervously at her superior. He had been acting very strange since he'd led them down here. "Aizen-sama… what..." She was knocked unconscious before she even knew Aizen had moved. Naruto gritted his teeth as he eyed his soon to be former mentor. Hinamori was unconscious because of some sort of hypnotic jutsu of Aizen's, but the blond boy didn't drop his guard. He watched as the man dropped the female seal master unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Shishou," Naruto tried to fake his confusion, "what did you do?"

Aizen laughed as he took off his glasses and pushed his hair back, giving him a sinister look that was the very opposite of his genial mask. "Naruto-kun… let us drop our masks, shall we?" he asked in a sardonic tone. "Both of us are undoubtedly sick of them…"

The jinchuuriki scowled at his former mentor.r, "What's the meaning of this? What do you want?"

"Very forward of you, Naruto-kun. As for the reason why… you're eight years old today. Your Uzumaki chakra should have started maturation by now…" Aizen explained with a malevolent smile. "I have to say I like this you better than the obedient and quiet prodigy persona you show on a daily basis."

Naruto scoffed. His chakra? Uzumaki chakra? "It's not really a mask… this is the disgusted face I show to scum like you Aizen!" Ha glanced at the unmoving form of Hianmori, "You used her to drag me to this place!"

Aizen shrugged. "Can you blame me? No matter how hard I tried to get you to trust me, you always put your guard up. I even got into that stupid rivalry with the Shioumitsus…" he sighed wearily. "Neither the Shiomitsus nor the Uchihas helped either… they were wary of me just like you."

"For a good reason, Bastard," Naruto snarled. "Enough of this! What do you want? he asked impatiently. He needed to get Hinamori away from this man, because so long as she was here, he couldn't escape or fight back.

"Impatient, are we? Well… I do have something in mind that… an Uzumaki like you could help me with," Aizen said in a velvety voice that sickened Naruto to the core. "I want you to activate this seal with your chakra."

The jinchuuriki glared at the giant seal array. "What's it for? You can't expect me to cooperate without knowing!"

Aizen shrugged nonchalantly. "Fair enough… this is a containment seal."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, unconsciously glancing at his stomach. "What's inside?"

"A treasure…" Aizen answered. "Don't worry. It's not a demon."

The blond jinchuuriki stiffened at that. "This seal was made by Mito-sama, and even with my meager knowledge I can tell it's a very powerful seal. Whatever it contains should forever belong there!" he shouted angrily. He had to stall for more time! Itachi and Shisui would have noticed something was wrong and followed the trail he left by now.

Aizen snorted. "Do you forget who has the advantage here?" he muttered as he unsheathed his katana. He grazed Hinamori's left cheek causing a trail of blood to slide down her face.

Naruto flinched, gritting his teeth in anger. "Fine! What should I do to activate this seal?"

"Glad you see things my way, Naruto-kun," Aizen told him with a smile. "Stand in the middle of the seal and channel your chakra."

Naruto glared at his former mentor as he stepped onto the seal array, not taking his eyes off the man until he reached the center. "Just promise me you won't harm her…"

Aizen sighed theatrically, "I promise."

Naruto scowled, couldn't this man sound even more fake than that? He reluctantly channeled his chakra to the seal, it glowed briefly but nothing happened. He gritted his teeth "It's not working?" He muttered in disbelief.

The slick haired man growled at the boy. "Don't play with me, boy… or something tragic will happen to her!" He shouted as he placed his katana next to Hinamori's slender neck.

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not playing around!" he shouted desperately. "I'm not a pureblooded Uzumaki, so maybe that's why! It's not my fault! Don't hurt her!"

Aizen scowled at the blond boy, "That's probably the case if your mother married someone else, but she married someone who was also an offshoot from Senju… your blood… Uzumaki blood, Senju blood… is in no way diluted." He stated confidently.

Aizen scowled at the blond boy. "That would have probably been the case had your mother married someone else, but she married an offspring of the Senju family… your blood… Uzumaki blood and Senju blood… is in no way diluted," he stated confidently.

"But it didn't work!" Naruto denied fervently. "What do you know about genetics anyway?! If it didn't work that means it can't function with my chakra! There's no reason for you to keep us here!"

"Maybe you just need the proper motivation." Aizen hoisted Hinamori up by her collar and ran his katana down her left arm.

Hinamori screamed in pain as a deep gash appeared on her left arm, "Aaaaagh!" but she didn't wake up from her deep sleep.

"Stop it!" Naruto cried desperately.

Aizen smirked but it quickly disappeared the moment he felt cold steel on both sides of his glanced to his sides, a pair of garnet orbs with tomoe stared back at him. Since when they were here? "How did you find us…?" He wondered out loud, "Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun?"

Itachi narrowed his sharingan eyes. "You underestimate Naruto-kun," he muttered as he pressed his ninjato against Aizen's neck, drawing a thin line of blood. "He didn't follow you without alerting us and leaving a trail to follow."

Shisui grinned as he raised his free hand. Strands of golden locks glinted dimly in the room. "I don't know how he did it, but apparently his hair has special properties when imbued with chakra… The chakra stays for a long period of time and acts as a beacon for a sensor like me to follow."

Naruto blinked at the information. When Kurama had suggested that method he hadn't thought it was actually going to work but it did! How the hell did he not know his own hair could do that? "Oh."

_**'Your mother did the same so your father would find her.'** _

_'Kurama, you make it sound like they were flirting even though the situation was probably serious.'_

_**'I'm me,'**_ Kurama deadpanned.

" _Okay…"_ Naruto sighed in relief. The crisis was diverted for now, or at least it was not as bad as before. Now if he could get Hinamori away from that man.

Aizen sighed theatrically, giving the shinobi a bad feeling. "Too bad you didn't catch me off guard," He said as he escaped from their grasp with a shunshin, Hinamori still in his grasp.

"Shit!" Shisui cursed. The man was faster than he'd thought. They had underestimated Aizen by thinking the man was only mid-chunin level… It seemed everything about the man was fake.

Aizen reappeared on the giant tree trunk – right on the edge of the giant seal array. He knelt down and tapped the side of it, and another seal array appeared, encircling the side of the trunk like a belt. Itachi's eyes widened when he saw the rune in the center of the seal Aizen had activated. "Everyone! Get away from the water!"

"Too late," Aizen muttered.

A torrent of lightning-natured chakra streaked across the water's surface. Even with the warning none of them managed to get away in time, even the ANBU squad waiting to ambush Aizen fell one by one.

**"ARGH!"**

Naruto's eyes widened in fear. "Itachi! Shisui! Tori! Everyone!"

Fortunately for them, the seal was very old and had not been properly maintained, thus it didn't kill them. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. They were severely weakened, but they had all managed to survive. Itachi, Shisui and Tori had even managed to stand up on the water surface.

But at least Aizen couldn't attack them in that scale anymore, unless he... "You… have…" Naruto's eyes widened when he noticed Aizen's katana had an electric current running through it.

"Lightning affinity?" Aizen finished in an amused tone. "Yes… all I have to do is dip my katana in this water and they're all dead…""

Naruto rose to his feet angrily, his right hand grasping three shuriken engraved with seals. "Don't you dare, Aizen… If you do I will kill you!" he hissed angrily. "I know you have hostages because you can't kill me. You need me alive, so you're not the only one with an advantage here…"

"How perceptive," Aizen said sardonically as he sheathed his katana. "However," he shunshin-ed and reappeared behind Itachi and Shisui.

Itachi swung his ninjato, but his reflexes were slowed from the last attack. Shisui reacted the same but, before their weapons could strike Aizen, the seal master sent them sprawling into the tree trunk. Naruto threw his shuriken and watched his blade of wind form and soar through the air. Aizen dodged the incoming projectile with another shunshin and reappeared at his original position on the tree trunk. Naruto was forced to stop his attack; Hinamori, Itachi and Shisui were too close to Aizen.

"You…" he gritted his teeth. Since the very beginning Aizen had been expecting the ambush, and he had an advantage of knowing the terrain better than they did. They had advantage in number but that was nullified the moment they were caught off guard by that lightning element seal.

Aizen smiled as he hoisted a sopping wet Uchiha cousins onto the wooden surface. Naruto didn't have to be a genius to know what Aizen could do to them with a simple touch. "Now… I know that Hinamori is not that important to you…" Naruto was going to deny Aizen's accusation, but his blood ran cold when Aizen stabbed his katana right through Itachi's left arm. The Uchihas grunted in pain but didn't cry out. They were paralyzed from head to toe, "But I know Itachi-kun is very precious to you… Shisui-kun, too," he said as he stabbed Shisui's waist with a kunai.

"Itachi! Shisui!" Naruto didn't miss the lightning element seal on both weapons, and he had no delusions they would survive if those weapons acted as a lightning rod for Aizen.

"Aizen!" Tori roared. "Let them go!"

Itachi could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. "Na… ruto…" If he passed out here, the battle was as good as lost.

Now I have three hostages," Aizen announced as he made a ram seal. "Do you really think there's still a chance for you, Naruto-kun? Unseal the treasure!"

Naruto fell on his knees, gritting his teeth as he realized his only option. "Fine!" he shouted, his eyes closed as tears streamed down his face. "Just don't hurt them anymore… please…"

"Naruto-kun!" Itachi shouted, gritting his teeth. "Don't listen to him!"

"Yeah!" Shisui growled. "Just kill this bastard! Don't mind us!"

Aizen scowled. These Uchiha brats were really annoying. "You're _very_ lucky I need you alive, Uchiha… " he muttered sinisterly. "But isn't your request cruel?" he wondered out loud. "Asking this poor jinchuuriki, who has been shunned his entire life, to abandon his friends?"

Shisui's eyes widened as he turned his attention to Naruto. The jinchuuriki was gritting his teeth, his fists clenched to the point blood was dripping onto the ground. "Naruto… you…"

"He has sacrifice so much for this village," Aizen stated with a sneer, "but what has he gotten in return? Scorn, hatred, isolation… and you ask him to sacrifice both of you for this village? Haven't you asked him enough?"

Shisui shook his head. "Naruto… don't listen to him! You don't want this! You can't do as he said just to…"

Naruto bit his bottom lip, drawing a trail of blood down his chin. "Shut up.." He hissed, "There are many things I'd be willing to give for this village, but you and Itachi aren't it..."

Itachi gritted his teeth. How could they ask for more from this boy? He had already lost so much, and they asked him to lose more? Itachi glared at Aizen. If only he could get rid of this stupid lightning seal and recover from this paralysis...

 _'Kurama… help me, I can't let this bastard get away with this,'_ Naruto said mentally to his tenant. _"This guy is really sneaky and I need him to get away from my friends… but the only way to do that is… to activate the seal and attack him when he is distracted by his precious treasure! And for that…'_

 _ **'You're asking me how to call out an Uzumaki's special chakra?'**_ Kurama asked in disbelief. _**'How should I know? But if it helps any, your mother's materialized as chains… and Mito's was a long dragon and sword…"**_

_'So… it's a type of chakra that materializes into some sort of weapon or animal?'_

_**'It's different for each person, but I suspect yours is the same as Kushina's, so try to visualize a chain or something…"** _

_"That's a pretty vague suggestion…"_ Naruto murmured. "I will try to call out my chakra again..." His eyes narrowed at Aizen, "As long as you keep your hands off of them."

Aizen nodded. "As long as you behave…" He added with a sneer.

Naruto gritted his teeth with eyes closed in absolute concentration as he formed a ram seal. He recalled the dreams he'd had on many occasions of thousands of rattling chains. He began hearing them, unsure and uncaring if he was just hallucinating out of desperation. He could feel a chakra pool into his navel but, unlike his usual blue chakra or Kurama's red, it was yellow… or was it a pale orange? Gold? It didn't matter! He thought as he mentally reached out his hand to grab the phantom chains of his mind. His blue eyes glimmered as he opened them to stare at Aizen and his friends. He had to protect them, no matter what the consequences!

 _The keyword is…_ a familiar feminine voice echoed in his mid.

**'Seiyaku no Kusari (Chain of pledge), protect my comrades… and chain down my foe!'**

A Chain of chakra erupted from his back and move to the array of seals. Naruto gagged as he felt the chains trace the seal like a living being. The seal absorbed the blood on his bleeding fists and glowed the golden color of dawn. Naruto felt his chakra drain faster than ever, and if not for his status as jinchuuriki, he would've lost consciousness already.

"Chains… of chakra," Aizen breathed out in amazement. "How beautiful and befitting of your status."

The blonde's eyes widened as a sprout grew unnaturally fast in the center of the seal. The leaves unfurled as its stem grew to his height, and Naruto could feel one final tug on his chakra as a bud of a flower appeared on the tip of the plant. The bud unfurled its petal, blooming into a fist sized purple flower with an ominous orb glowing a sickly purple in the center.

"This is what you wanted?!" Naruto growled out, "a purple rock?!"

Aizen nodded. "It is valuable… now give it to me," Aizen demanded as he reached out.

Naruto, feeling extremely weakened, struggled to stand up. "Unfortunately… that took a toll on me, bastard, so take it yourself!" he growled out. "I'm not going to touch this thing for you!"

The older seal master sighed as he stepped forward. "What a troublesome disciple I have…"

The jinchuuriki scoffed as he backed away to give Aizen enough space to take the treasure. "Don't call me that, you traitor…" he hissed angrily.

Aizen chuckled softly as he leaned down to take his prize. His fingers brushed against the foul purple chakra before plucking the orb off of the flower.

Now!

Aizen eyes widened when a hard metal was slammed into his chest, not deeply embedded, but then again, that wasn't the purpose. "You!"

" **Katon no Juujika-Fuuin** (Fire Element Cross Seal)!" Naruto whispered as his lips curved up into a grin. "Eat this, bastard!" He backed away quickly but not before kicking Aizen's hand. The purple orb rolled across the ground.

"GUAAAGH!" Aizen screamed in pain as he tried to reach for his treasure. Unfortunately, a fire powered shuriken blew him away, slamming him into the wall. He slid down to the watery surface sluggishly.

Itachi and Shisui looked at Naruto in disbelief. "Good job, Naruto!" Shisui congratulated.

Naruto sighed as he reached out to the rolling orb, "Now let's des…"

"Naruto-kun… you did it." Itachi smiled at the boy who was about to reach out for the purple orb, his eyes widened in horror, "Naruto-kun! Move!"

he saw a shadow looming over him and heard Itachi's panicked voice. He couldn't react in time. A sharp pain was felt as a familiar katana nailed his hand to the ground before he could touch the dreaded treasure. "Hi… Hina… mori-neesan? What are you..." he muttered in disbelief as the female seal master looked down on him, her hands gripping the handle of her katana firmly.

"Hand over the treasure," she said stoically with her eyes devoid of emotion like a lifeless doll. "It belongs to Aizen-sama."


	7. You're Our Pride

**7th Legacy: You're Our Pride**

**"Now, Naruto… wipe your tears! The shinobi in front of you is going to leave with pride…**  
**he protected you 'till the very end. We should be proud of him…"**  
_Uchiha Shisui to Uzumaki Naruto_

Naruto didn't care about the hole in his hand or the resulting sharp pain; both were the farthest thing from his mind. He had been careless, and his friends had paid the price. He should have realize how odd it was for Aizen to knock Hinamori out by holding the back of her neck, or paid attention to the scruff of her neck when she was laying down. He did neither, and now Hinamori had nailed his hand to the wooden surface with her katana. The price he paid for his carelessness.

Naruto ignored the pain as he pulled the katana out of his hand, spilling his blood all over the seal array. Hinamori paid him no mind as she strode to her master who looked dead, but... could he survive that? His breath hitched when he saw the seal array on the back of Hinamori's neck, a crudely made mind control seal.

What the hell was Aizen thinking? One of the most obscure type of seals were the ones that dealt with the mind, using that kind of seal recklessly would destroy someone's mind. His blood ran cold at the thought of the seal having been planted a long time ago. Hinamori had been with Aizen for years, her mind was probably...

The sound of metal hitting wood alerted him to Itachi and Shisui pulling Aizen's weapons out of themselves. Faint smoke was coming off of both weapons from the fire jutsus used to destroy the seal arrays carved into them. A wise move, he decided. Naruto winced when he felt the wound on his hand closing rapidly. He'd never had a wound this deep before, so the experience of his muscle tissue being pulled and mended by Kurama's demonic chakra was foreign and slightly painful.

"Naruto-kun," Itachi's calm voice alerted him to the ANBU's presence by his side, "are you alright?"

The jinchuuriki nodded, watching from the corner of his eyes as all the ANBU retreated to the giant tree stump. It was a wise choice; they didn't want Aizen to attack them again with his lightning element. "I'm fine... but Hinamori, she's under his control..."

Someone would have tried to approach her and knock her out, but what she held made them pause. In one hand, she was holding one of Aizen's kunai with a lightning element seal, and in the other was the dreaded treasure. Stepping anywhere near the water's surface was a suicidal move, and although they were physically superior compared to Hinamori, it would be too dangerous to confront her. They knew that a mind-controlled human, like her, could do the unthinkable with little regard to themselves and their surroundings.

"Taichou, could we use the wall to get to her?" Kuma asked Tori warily.

Tori turned to the Uchihas and said, "Itachi, Shisui... can you see if anything's in the wall? If there's another seal trap there it could be a dead end."

Itachi and Shisui nodded, pushing more chakra into their eyes to see better in the dimly lit room. "I can see some traces of chakra..." Shisui gulped at the sight and what it implied. "This is bad."

The Uchiha scion nodded, "how could we miss this?" He gritted his teeth, his sharingan spinning furiously. "The wall... is a landmine." If they had noticed earlier, they wouldn't have even dared to touch the wall. And to think, all of this was a defense mechanism made by Uzumaki Mito?

The warning of 'don't touch the seal' was never voiced, but it didn't need be. The Uzumaki clan was notorious for their use of seals as traps.

Naruto coughed, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. "Because this giant seal array activated," he breathed out, "the defense mechanism that's been dormant for so long has been revived by my chakra. But, Aizen and Hinamori have been here before, so they probably know how to deactivate it..." Though Hinamori had probably not been aware of Aizen's malicious intent towards the seal. Naruto gritted his teeth, "It's designed to annihilate intruders if they manage to reach the treasure, but it's backfired in our case, because they know how to control it while we don't."

Aizen's hoarse laughter rang throughout the room. "How perceptive, Naruto-kun! Ha ha ha... as expected of an Uzumaki."

The younger seal master scowled. "Aizen..."

Shisui snarled. "How the hell are you still alive after that attack?"

Aizen tilted his head to the side as he stood up to his full height. On his chest was an ugly burn scar though it wasn't a life threatening injury. "It's a simple trick any seal master with mediocre knowledge of medical ninjutsu could achieve..." he revealed. "It ate more than half my chakra, though."

"Aren't you cocky …" Tori drawled. "Revealing your secrets is foolish."

"Though that can be easily rectified with this treasure," Aizen stated as glanced at Hinamori who held the treasure close to her chest. "Now, Hinamori, give me the treasure."

Naruto tried to move, but Itachi stopped him. "You, of all people, should know it's unwise to attack Aizen blindly," the Uchiha scion muttered stoically.

"Don't!" Naruto's eyes widened when he saw Hinamori force the purple orb into Aizen's burned chest. "Is he crazy? He's trying to consume that foul chakra?"

 ** _'I once knew a foolish pair of brothers who did the same,'_** Kurama informed with a growl. **_'Aizen will either grow stronger or die because of chakra intoxication."_**

 _'I see...'_ Naruto gritted his teeth, _'but will he be able to control that power?'_

Kurama cackled, **_'Who knows? Either way he'll find out... "_**

 _'Is that so?'_ Naruto cut his mental conversation short, ignoring Kurama's indignant rambling about his ungrateful jinchuuriki. Whether or not what Kurama said was true, it was still just a prediction. Meanwhile, Aizen had become quiet as his eyes started to glow an eerie purple. He strolled leisurely in their direction with a smirk on his face. Naruto didn't like this sudden confidence Aizen had gained with stepping into the tree stump, the only trap free area. After all, he was the one with a severe disadvantage as far as the number of allies went.

"What are…?" Naruto's eyes widened when Aizen vanished from his sight. The next thing he knew, the ANBU members who stood beside Itachi fell to the ground in bloody messes, and said Uchiha was blocking Aizen's bloody hand with his ninjato.

Itachi winced. "What power..." He could see Aizen's every move with his sharingan enhanced eyes, but his body couldn't react in time. With just brute strength, the man was pushing him back.

Shisui growled, "When did he..." The shunshin expert vanished and reappeared next to the traitor and swung his ninjato, but was greeted by air.

"UARGH!" The sickening sound of crushed ribs echoed as the ANBU with a bear mask was slammed into the ground.

Tori backed away, suppressing his anger about the death of his subordinates as his hands ran through a series of seals. "Suiton: Suigadan (Water Release: Water Fang Bullet)!" A torrent of water rose up and spun like a drill, barreling towards man in question just smiled as he cut through the drill of water with his bare hands. "Is that it?"

Shisui scowled. In just the blink of an eye, they were down to four shinobi, Naruto excluded. Shisui glanced at the blond, immediately knowing by the way he wobbled on his feet that he was far from ok. The Uchiha could understand though, it was common for most children to be exhausted when they activated their bloodline for the first time. Shisui's attention was drawn to Itachi as he sheathed his ninjato, and his eyes widened when he saw the large crack on the sword. Itachi appeared calm, but Shisui could tell his cousin was running a number of strategies through his mind.

"How strong is this bastard?" Shisui asked with a grimace at the broken ninjato.

"He's strong enough to tear us apart with his bare hands," Itachi answered calmly. "Do not engage him directly."

Naruto winced, it seemed Aizen was nowhere near dying of chakra poisoning. "Itachi... Shisui..." he called, "Aizen is absorbing the foul chakra of that orb, and even though his chakra, power ,and speed has increased exponentially... he's not infallible... and he's not supposed to be able to control this power too quickly." He coughed again before he took a deep breath. "Please stall him to give me more time. I have a plan."

Itachi nodded as his right hand pulled a wire from his weapon's pouch. "I'm going first."

Tori and his remaining subordinate, Nezumi, dodged another torrent of lighting attacks in their limited amount of space. Itachi was right. Save for the tree stump, the whole area was a landmine for them. Tori somersaulted and landed right on the edge of the wooden surface. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Itachi land in between him and Nezumi. "Itachi..."

"Taichou," Itachi began, "let's focus on immobilizing this man, while we stall for time. We must try to keep him inside this giant seal array as long as we can."

Nezumi turned to the Uchiha prodigy. "What do you mean?"

Tori ended the conversation with, "talk later, he's coming."

* * *

Naruto knelt on the wooden surface, his fingers tracing the center of the giant seal array. Shisui was beside him looking worried. Naruto ignored the weary state his mind and body were in as he tried to focus. His chakra pool was nearly empty, and he knew he didn't have enough to accomplish the required tasks. He could call out Kurama's energy, but what he needed was Uzumaki chakra, not Kurama's demonic one. It was frustrating being so useless and weak when he had a role to fulfill in this battle. Failure just wasn't an option. He had already lost two of the ANBU guards who'd protected him for years, and he wasn't going to lose any more of his friends.

He drew his legs into lotus position, his fingers forming a ram seal. It would help to recover his chakra a bit faster. "Naruto," the young seal master frowned, "brace yourself," Shisui murmured, a grim expression painted on his face. "It seems a lady is joining our party."

Naruto grimaced at the bun-haired girl who walked towards them, her katana glimmering in the dim light. "Hinamori-nee..." he hissed. "Shisui, try to immobilize her... she has no sense of self-preservation as she is now..."

Which meant it was the same as fighting someone who was ready to die, and in Shisui's book, that was always a bad idea. If you engage with this kind recklessly, you would end up dying with them. "Understood."

As soon as the word left his mouth, Hinamori charged at Shisui, and though the shunshin expert dodged the attack easily, he was displeased by the implications of the first attack. Naruto was right about the 'no sense of self-preservation' part. This girl had charged at him with all her power when there were so many other openings. His sharingan spun wildly as he tried to trap her in a genjutsu, but nothing happened. Maybe the seal blocked genjutsu attacks or something?

Shisui dodged another sloppy attack. "Che," he grunted.

From the way she attacked, Shisui could tell she wanted him to attack her, and he could only imagine how splendidly that would end, especially if the seal on her katana was the same as Aizen's. Lightning natured chakra was second only to wind when it came to versatility, so touching a weapon with that kind of seal was a suicide.

Fortunately for Shisui, he also had a trick on his weapon. "I have lightning chakra, too, Ojou-chan." Shisui grinned as his weapon clashed with Hinamori's.

The petite girl's face remained stoic as she exchanged blow after blow with Shisui, but it was obvious she wasn't faring well. Shisui could tell she was not used to using one katana, because she was a twin sword user. A person under mind control, like her, hadn't thought ahead, so she hadn't bothered to regain possession of the katana she'd used on Naruto earlier.

The blond boy silently watched Shisui and Hinamori from the corner of his eyes, and it seemed Shisui was doing well. He was still low on chakra, so he could only hope they could buy him more time. His blue eyes then glanced at the other battle that was not going well. At some point, some sort of wing made of ominous, purple chakra had erupted from Aizen's back making him look decidedly less human. Some sort of strange, black pattern was spreading over his skin, and even a non-sensor could feel the unnatural chakra practically radiating from him. What the hell had that orb done to Aizen?

It was a three against one battle, and though they were ANBU, they could barely hold their ground against him. In fact, Aizen was just toying with them, biding his time and savoring his moment of superiority. The lack of land for their battleground didn't help either, especially since they wanted to keep their distance and stick to mid to long range attacks.

Itachi was thinking along the same lines as Naruto. Whatever was happening to Aizen would have undesirable outcome for them. While they pondered over their next course of action, Tori broke the silence, his normally reserved voice sounding unsure because of the weird markings marring Aizen's skin. "You're... one of that bastard's experiments?" he growled out murderously.

"Tori-taichou?" Itachi glanced at the man; he'd never seen his captain look so perturbed.

Aizen laughed because, unlike them, he knew what Tori was referring to. "Oh, Orochimaru-san?" The amount of politeness used to address the most dangerous missing nin Konoha had ever produced didn't sit well with them. "Do I look like someone who does his bidding?" he asked in a mocking tone, faking an indignant expression. "I'm not one of those fake dolls he created," Aizen muttered, and for a moment, the false, genial smile he always donned returned to his face. "I'm an original carrier of this blessing." At this point, the marks covered over half of his body.

"Blessing?" Tori repeated, his ninjato pointed at the traitor. "It's a curse that feeds on power-hungry men like you."

Aizen scoffed, then he let out a maniacal laughter at Tori's insult. "Maybe to those copies," he grinned, charging the ANBU, "but not for me!" Tori hissed as he blocked Aizen's kick with his arm guard. It shattered in an instant and he could feel his bone screaming in protest under the immense pressure. Itachi and Nezumi didn't stay idle, they both raised their respective weapons and dealt a blow to the man's vital points.

CLANK!

Nezumi gasped as his ninjato snapped in two instead of piercing Aizen's spinal column, Itachi's kunai also broke. The ANBU knew in an instant that engaging Aizen in close range, even with three against one, was dangerous. They all jumped away from the traitor, but Nezumi was not lucky enough to escape as Aizen turned and caught him by his throat. Nezumi tried to break free but Aizen had an iron like grip on his throat, cutting off his air supply. "Before I kill you all..." Aizen began with a sneer, "I think it would be fair to indulge the reason of why I did this..."

* * *

Naruto never thought he would thank God for the dreaded monologue every cocky villain did to reveal their plans. **_'Madara's bad habit, the dreaded monologue~'_**

 _'It's working to my advantage, so let him,'_ Naruto muttered to Kurama. _'Besides...it's a sign he's getting over-confident, and that's good news for us.'_

Nezumi was caught, but Tori wouldn't let his subordinate die without trying to save him.

 ** _'Just concentrate on recovering your chakra,'_** Kurama hissed coolly. **_'Your chakra coils are in a bad shape after that last stunt you pulled. You weren't ready for that.'_** Chakra coils were the pathways of chakra circulation, so if the coils were undeveloped like Naruto's (or any child's), it didn't matter if a shinobi had a lot of chakra available. Extreme use of chakra resulted in the wear of these coils, because they weren't ready for the strain, which could lead to the inability to use chakra later. **' _I'm healing them now, so hopefully they'll be in good enough condition for your plan, but I got to warn you... it's going to hurt like a bitch later!'_**

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the warning. _'That's the least of my concerns.'_

"Naruto-kun," Aizen called the jinchuuriki in his fake, genial voice, just like how he used to. It snapped Naruto's attention back to his former mentor and made him want to hurl. "You may loath your jinchuuriki status, but there was once a clan who willingly became demon vessels."

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki glared at the traitor. "A clan of fools then," he hissed testily.

"Fools?" Aizen echoed, slamming Nezumi into the hard, wooden surface. The ANBU was still breathing but the sickening cracks they heard definitely indicated broken ribs. Aizen moved away from his latest victim, and Tori glared at the man as he checked on Nezumi.

Aizen laughed. "My clan was the greatest! We were the next step in human evolution!" he boasted proudly.

More like disgraces to humanity, Naruto thought furiously. "I hardly believe that." Naruto didn't even bat an eye when Itachi landed next to him. The Uchiha probably knew that Naruto was baiting Aizen to keep him talking, but probably wasn't willing to risk the man's wrath coming out. A dull thud not far from Naruto made the boy briefly glance in Shisui's direction, Hinamori was once again out cold. Shisui had tied her up with a rope for safety measures and confiscated her weapon's pouch and scrolls; he even used the confining seal Naruto gave him.

The traitor looked at his former student disapprovingly. "We were... in fact, _better_ than jinchuuriki like you," he drawled haughtily, looking at Naruto condescendingly. "Unlike you, we contained demons in our body with no seals... they became a part of us, and we were in control of their power... It gave us vitality and longevity superior to lesser humans..."

Naruto was pretty sure no jinchuuriki – especially himself – would want to be compared to an abomination like Aizen. The man was just so proud of being able to abuse the power that came with being less human. "So your clan bred with lesser demons?" Kurama had once told him that the bijuu were not the only demons around, and that lesser demons did exist and could breed with humans to produce half-demon spawn. The Uzumaki family was originally a clan of onmyouji that exorcised demons who threatened humanity, and the Rokudo Sennin had also been one before he 'created' the shinobi profession.

Aizen looked like he'd been slapped across the face. "As if. We took the power of the demons we sealed and implanted it into our bodies..." he informed, placing his hand above his heart as a sneer marred his face. All of his skin had turned to a sickly shade of purple, and the butterfly-like wings made of chakra had fully extended out of his back. His appearance was decidedly bestial, and his chakra only grew fouler with each passing moment.

The blond jinchuuriki felt his heartbeat become more erratic, and he felt restless. **_'It's nothing. Uzumakis are pretty sensitive to demon chakra... Your body is alert, that's all. If anything, this will speed up your recovery rate because your body instinctively knows there's a threat.'_** Naruto guessed that had something to do with the Uzumaki's profession prior to the shinobi age.

 ** _'Your Uchiha friends, however...'_** Kyuubi redirected the jinchuuriki's attention toward the cousins.

"Urgh!" Itachi and Shishui suddenly hurled and threw up the contents of their stomach.

The Uchiha scion coughed as he struggled to regain control of his body. "What's… happened?" Itachi hissed.

Shisui cradled his head, "I'm getting dizzy…"

"Itachi! Shisui!" Naruto called out to them, "are you all right?"

Kyuubi scoffed, **_'They're the descendants of the Rokudo Sennin… so they're pretty sensitive, too. Normally, they wouldn't have reacted this badly to this kind of demonic chakra, but…'_** He trailed off, **_'Mixing poison could produce a more lethal one, it's something like that… Aizen-bastard have foul chakra since the very beginning but he absorbed another kind of nasty chakra which no good for your senses or the Uchiha's."_**

"Great, it's an enemy that makes us want to puke literally," Naruto muttered under his breath, feeling his stomach twist unpleasantly. _'Just a bit more… please make it in time.'_

Aizen looked unperturbed by their speculations of him and their reactions to his transformation. The sclera of his eyes turned black while the irises became yellow. He also gained a black stripe running from the middle of his forehead down to the bridge of his nose, and his skin's texture became tough and jagged like a rock. "Hm… I can think clearly…" he murmured, revealing his voice had become deeper and hoarse. "I like it."

Shisui and Itachi wiped their mouths, neither looking happy to be reduced to their current state. "Itachi, Shisui…" Naruto called their attention to him, "don't worry about the sudden nausea, it'll wear off fast…" he wheezed out. "Don't think to fight him head on, just keep him distracted from me and stay alive…"

"Got it." Shisui grinned then said to Itachi, "Ready?"

Itachi scoffed, "Whenever you are."

They jumped away from Naruto and landed on the opposite side of Aizen. Their enemy looked unconcerned, taking his time to marvel about his new power. **"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"**

Aizen batted away the incoming fireball with his bare hands, much to their ire. Shisui gritted his teeth when Aizen appeared in a flash, leaving the shunshin expert barely any time to defend with his lightning-coated ninjato. Shisui knew if not for the coating on his ninjato, he would have met the same fate as Itachi's ANBU teammates. His eyes widened when a crack appeared on his ninjato from Aizen's force. He tried to move away, but Aizen was too strong, so he was locked in the clash. Itachi, though, came to his rescue, throwing a barrage of kunai with explosion tags. The blast didn't deal any meaningful damage to Aizen, but it allowed Shisui a safe retreat.

"Thank you, Itachi!" Shisui grinned at his cousin as he jumped away, then cringed when he saw his broken ninjato. "Shit." Next time he'd have to bring a spare, he noted mentally.

Aizen was not pleased with Itachi's interference and decided to give the boy a taste of his own medicine. Aizen grew jet booster-like appendages on his arms, extended them and gathered chakra. He formed a huge and powerful chakra blast that Itachi barely dodged in time with a shunshin. Itachi reappeared beside Shisui as they surveyed the damage left by the chakra blast Aizen unleashed.

Itachi's expression was grim. "That attack, if it had hit…"

Shisui gulped, "It's unlikely you'd have survived that." The wall Aizen hit with that chakra blast had a half sphere shaped hole and the water' surface was split like the red sea before it crashed back together.

They had no time to talk as Aizen went after them again, and the battle continued by exchanging elemental ninjutsu attacks, because going anywhere near Aizen was too risky. Tori protected them all with earth element shields, but they only lasted long enough to give them a chance to catch their breath. The ANBU captain knew their chakra was running low and that they were on their last leg.

Meanwhile, Nezumi was having difficulty breathing because of the earlier attack that broke his ribs, and he knew a broken bone had punctured his lungs. So while Shisui and Itachi distracted Aizen with another barrage of fireballs, Nezumi pulled his captain aside to explain his plan.

"I have a plan, but it will cost me." Nezumi gritted out.

Tori protested, "But…"

"Captain! Listen… we can't fail Naruto again… _not_ again…" Nezumi reminded.

Tori was reluctant at first but eventually gave in as neither of them were much use as they were. Tori had taken a beating on his left leg from Aizen, and it was useless now. They looked at their junior teammate then to Naruto, who was still recovering. It was now or never.

Tori cut Aizen's path off with another water element attack that pushed the deformed human back a few feet. Like all previous attacks, it did minimal damage but caused Aizen to direct his vengeance onto the ones who attacked him. Tori knew that would happen because, despite all of Aizen's boasting of brilliance, he had a pretty simple mind when it came to the battlefield.

However, Aizen never got to his target as another ANBU moved to block his path. "Got you." Nezumi grinned when he caught Aizen's fist with his hands, ignoring the cracking noise his arms made. He shifted his body when another fist moved to smash him, but this time Aizen's fist pierced his stomach. "Urgh… "Nezumi grunted in pain. "Thank… you for holding me back, just like I wanted."

"Nezumi!" Naruto shouted in horror. His chakra was almost full, he could feel it…

Nezumi wished he could take off his mask, so he could show Naruto a smile in his dying moments. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I at least I protected you 'till the very end…" He laughed softly, then turned to Aizen. "As for you, embrace the earth, bastard! **Doton: Ganban Kyū** (Earth Release: Bedrock Coffin)!" A mud-like substance flowed from his mouth, forming a rocky ground under his feet. Then, two gigantic rocks rose and crashed into its user and Aizen.

"Nezumi…" Naruto stared at the rock coffin, his eyes widening when he saw a tiny crack on its surface.

 ** _'Naruto, concentrate! That bastard's still alive! Do it now while he's still trapped there!'_** Kurama warned his vessel. **"And get your friends away from that coffin!"**

"Itachi! Shisui! Tori!" Naruto shouted desperately, "he's still alive! Get away from there!" As the three shinobi heeded his warning, Naruto began to pull his chakra chain out of his body. "Ugh!" He nearly screamed when pain racked his body. It felt like an unclosed wound was grating against sandpaper. Kurama was right about his chakra coils, but he _needed_ to focus and ignore the pain.

Once again, the chain shot out and traced the seal carved on the wooden surface, but the chakra drain was even more rapid than last time, and Naruto felt his consciousness slipping away. Aizen's head and hand holding his katana suddenly broke through the coffin, but the rest of his body remained buried. "No! I'm not going to end here! My clan shall be avenged! Lesser humans will pay!" he roared at the three shinobi before turning his attention to Naruto. "Die, jinchuuriki!" Aizen threw his katana at the defenseless blond.

"Naruto-kun!" Itachi moved as fast as he could, but he knew he wouldn't be able to stop the sword. His eyes widened when he saw someone was already there to block the sword. "Tori-taichou!"

Naruto saw the incoming projectile with half-lidded eyes, he couldn't move… then his vision was suddenly painted with blood, and something warm was soaking his cheek. "Heh… are you all right, Naruto?"

The jinchuuriki stared at the mask of a bird that fell on his lap, then looked to the katana that pierced the ANBU's chest and the unmasked face. "Tori…"

Tori smiled at the boy he had protected for years. "Don't… worry about… me," he coughed out. "Seal him now, Naruto..."

Naruto nodded, tears streaming down his face as he answered, "Yes…" The chain moved at a slower pace as Naruto pushed his remaining chakra into forming the seal.

Aizen struggled to break free, but since the seal was nearly complete, he couldn't. "Die! You should all die! Hinamoriiiiiiii! Kill them!"

Shisui's eyes widened when he saw Hinamori had regained consciousness while they were distracted. Her rope bindings had been cut off with the katana she'd pinned Naruto with earlier, but luckily the seal on her still remained intact. Shisui and Itachi quickly moved to block Hinamori, who had stood up on her master's command, and much to their shock, she was trying to break free of the binding seal with brute strength.

Shisui gritted his teeth as he raised his kunai. "Hey, stop that!" Moments later she was released, and her whole body was marred by cuts all over as a result. Shisui cursed, he didn't have enough chakra to use his lightning release, and Itachi wasn't faring any better. His remaining chakra was being used to just keep himself standing.

"Hinamori-san… come back to your senses, you don't want this…" Itachi hissed as he helped his ANBU captain to sit. It was painful seeing the life slipping away, and it reminded him so much of the war.

"Hinamori!" Aizen roared desperately, "move! Kill Naruto!"

Naruto turned to Hinamori, who had stopped her advance, and watched as her eyes shifted from lifeless to normal, back and forth. She was struggling to break free of the control seal. "Fight back, Hinamori-neesan! Fight it!"

Hinamori suddenly fell on her knees, raising her katana, but instead of attacking Itachi and Shisui, she stabbed her right hand through to the ground. Her eyes were normal as tears streamed down her face. "I don't… want… to hurt… anyone…" she stammered as blood dyed the ground red. "Little brother… my dear brother…" She looked at Naruto with a smile on her face. "I'm sorry… so sorry, nee-san can't protect you… hurt you…"

"Hinamori-neesan?" Naruto called out to her, but she fell to the ground, her eyes closed as she slipped back into unconsciousness. She was still alive but that break down just now… her mind… it was… "Aizen!" Naruto hissed furiously as he felt his chakra chains trace over the last stroke of the seal. "Go back to where you belong!"

Hands made of wood grew out of the seal array and pulled Aizen out of the earth coffin. Nezumi's body fell to the ground as the wooden hands trapped Aizen in their grip. "No! Nooo!" Aizen roared hysterically, "let me go!" His skin reverted back to normal and the transformation slipped away. His eyes widened in horror when he realized the wood chakra the Shodaime left was purifying his power. "You will pay! You will pay, Jinchuuriki! One day, my clan will rise again!" he roared as half of his body sunk into the wood. "We're the chosen humans! We will rise again! Ha ha ha ha!"

Naruto shook his head. "No, you won't…" he hissed, "I won't let you… ever…" Naruto formed a ram seal, his breathing ragged as he shouted,

**"Fuuin!"**

And with that, Aizen was dragged down into the seal with not a trace left of him. A spell of silence hung in the air as they all stared at the smooth surface of wood where the traitor previously was. "It's over," shisui whispered.

Itachi looked at Naruto then to his captain. "Naruto-kun…"

Naruto turned his attention to Itachi, his expression grim as he looked at Tori. The ANBU captain's chakra was so weak, he was dying. "Tori…" Naruto stood up slowly, limping over to Itachi and Tori.

The ANBU captain was laughing softly. His damp, brown hair was askew, and he was looking at Naruto with half lidded green eyes. "Heh." The katana was still embedded in his chest, and though his bleeding didn't show any signs of stopping, it had staved off death long enough to say goodbye. It wasn't much time, but he could say what he wanted at least.

"I'm so sorry…" Naruto muttered, tears streaming down his face. "Because of me…"

Tori grinned at Naruto as his hand rose to cup the boy's whiskered cheek. "Don't cry… it's not your fault. My team and I chose to protect you with our lives… so as a shinobi and your protector we're content…"

Naruto sobbed and stammered, "but… if only I was stronger… if only… I was a better shinobi and jinchuuriki, you wouldn't…"

Tori shook his head. "Naruto… not once did my team or I see our duty as protecting the jinchuuriki of Konoha," he muttered in a pained voice. "We protected you, because… we love you."

"You love me?" Naruto asked in a daze. It was not out of duty but genuine love?

The ANBU captain nodded. "We always have… If anything… I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness," he coughed, his smile looking pained. "That night… when you were born, my team was one of the ANBU squads assigned to protect your parents… we failed, even though we're the first line of defense and before we knew it other team had been killed and Yondaime had to seal Kyuubi..." His team had survived since they were guarding the farthest area from the cave. They hadn't even known they were under attack until Kyuubi appeared. Tori's eyes closed briefly as he recalled the other dead squads, the picture of tragedy from eight years ago.

"Tori… what happened isn't… your fault." Naruto stammered sadly.

Tori shook his head, "We couldn't protect the Yondaime and Kushina-sama… not when we found him sealing the Kyuubi into you, and not even as they spoke to you with their dying breaths," Tori said in a broken voice. "You had your parents for a few miserable minutes… and then you were scorned by those you sacrificed your life for… We watched this and wished we could've eased your pain, but…"

Naruto sobbed as he grasped the gentle hand on his cheek. "I was happy though, because you were always there for me… I can't thank you and your team enough!"

Tori's dark green eyes widened, a small smile painted on his lips. "Thank you…" he muttered in a hushed whisper. "Now, I understand your parents' feelings, at least a little… I wish… I could protect you longer… but…" His voice was hoarse as he glanced at the Uchihas. "Itachi… this is my last order as your captain."

Itachi nodded. "Yes, I'll protect…"

Tori cut him off with, "No… what I want you to do is to be Naruto's comrade, not a protector in the shadows like us… we were able to protect him from physical harm, but we could never protect his heart," he stated regretfully. "We let those vengeful villagers to scorn him… and we could do nothing. I want you to be by his side as a comrade… you and your cousin, please…"

"Yes… Tori-taichou," Itachi said in a hushed whisper. "I promise… "

Shisui nodded, "Me too…" He grinned as he dragged the dazed Naruto into his arms, "Now, Naruto… wipe your tears," he said as he helped the boy to do so, he could hear his voice was shaking. "The shinobi in front of you is going to leave with pride… he protected you 'till the very end. We should be proud of him…"

Tori grinned. "That's right… so, Naruto… smile," he requested hoarsely. "It's been a while since I saw your real smile."

Naruto nodded, his lips curving up as he gave the ANBU his foxy grin. "Like this?"

He nodded, "Yes… thank you, Naruto, for… everything…" he muttered as he closed his green eyes slowly and welcomed his death. He had no regrets. When he reunited with his teams, he would congratulate them for a job well done; they had protected Naruto until the very end. Then, he would see the Yondaime and Kushina-sama and tell them their boy had grown to be…

**A hero…**

* * *

Naruto awoke to the irritatingly familiar smell of antiseptics. The smell came with being confined to the hospital, aka prison. However, this time it was not as bad as usual, because he when he saw Tokusa and his master, Hakurei, sitting beside his bed and looking at him with identical expressions of worry. Hakurei was the leader of the Shiomitsu clan and was as old as the Sandaime. He wore a white kimono with dark blue lining and a dark maroon scarf, and his white hair was styled in a high ponytail.

He sat up with a dazed feeling. It took a few moments for him to register them asking about his condition and tears began welling up as he recalled what happened in that underground chamber.

It didn't take long to recover his bearings; he had to be coherent to demand the Shiomitsu pair tell him what happened afterwards. Naruto had apparently passed out yesterday because of severe chakra exhaustion. Itachi and Shisui had also suffered from chakra exhaustion and a couple of bruises and cuts. Overall, there was nothing to worry about with the Uchiha cousins as they only needed a few days of rest. Hakurei promised he would bring him to visit the Uchihas, whose room was in a completely different wing of the hospital.

Hakurei was extremely careful in the wording of his report about how they were separated as precaution. Naruto couldn't help but growl at that, but he couldn't fault the logic. The Uchiha family was trying to stave off accusations of them trying to influence Naruto to their supposed cause, or whatever ludicrous ideas people had… which got pretty ridiculous in Naruto's opinion.

Then, Hakurei asked him if he was all right to hear more about his recently dead ex-mentor. Naruto assured them he had never trusted Aizen, had even noticed the man's power-hungry eyes on him since the very beginning. He was also pretty angry with Shiomitsus, since they had been at odds with Aizen but had never explained the reason for the animosity. He had been lead to believe it was a simple political struggle between the two.

Hakurei and Tokusa apologized and would have bowed deeply if he had not stopped them; he just wanted them to be honest with him. After Hakurei asked Tokusa to guard the door from outside, he applied a privacy seal on the room. Then, Hakurei began his story about Aizen Sousuke and how the man was welcomed into their ranks.

"It was twenty five years ago… right before the Second Shinobi World War reached its end," Hakurei began solemnly. "Uzushiogakure had just fallen, so Konoha was desperate to find the survivors. One of the few clans they managed to find was the Shiomitsu clan…" He looked at Naruto sadly. "We're a clan who serves under the main family of Uzumaki, Mito-sama's and your family line…"

Naruto nodded, he could guess that much from how they treated him. "But what's any of that got to do with Aizen?" he asked impatiently.

"I'm getting to that, Naruto-sama," Hakurei said patiently. "The problem was… at that time, all records of Uzushiogakure's inhabitants was lost, and Konoha didn't know any better… so a clan used that to their advantage to join Konoha's ranks, claiming they were a small clan from our fallen homeland." Hakurei's expression was pained as he continued his story, but Naruto needed to know. "That clan… was Aizen's."

"So they lied?" Naruto asked incredulously. "But if you worked as my family's vassal how could they deceive Konoha? You should have known they weren't a part of Uzushiogakure."

"No one really cared at that time." Hakurei gritted his teeth as he explained that since Uzushiogakure's records were lost, it was impossible to prove the family was not from their fallen homeland. Not to mention, like many families of Uzushio, the Aizen clan showed prowess in fuuinjutsu and nothing much in any other field. The clan members were malnourished and weak. They acted like a clan of genial scholars like Aizen Sousuke, so when they begged on their knees for place in Konoha, the Sandaime could not deny them.

Hakurei took a deep breath, "But still… Konoha didn't really trust them, so they were placed on the outskirts of Konoha." He looked down, "They were surprisingly content with that arrangement." Hakurei gritted his teeth, "but then… their clan members died out one by one in a short period of time… a clan the size of ten families was suddenly reduced to three families in two years. The clan was very tightlipped about it, and while the rest of Konoha was not affected, Sandaime couldn't just turn a blind eye."

Naruto could guess what Sandaime did next; the clan was put on heavy surveillance by ANBU. "So what'd they find?"

Hakurei shook slightly as he recalled the horror he witnessed two decades ago. "Experimentation that involved fuuinjutsu, lesser demons, and genetic manipulation... a cursed branch of study called Juuinjutsu," he muttered with a disgusted face, "which they inflicted on their own kin. That was the last straw… The Sandaime ordered his shinobi to capture the clan members. My clan was ordered by Mito-sama to assist in the raid…" He continued with a grieving voice, "we were just going to arrest them… but it turned into a massacre when the Aizens turned into monsters and attacked our forces."

"Monsters…" Naruto murmured, "Like _he_ did."

Hakurei nodded. "The mild-mannered clan turned into bloodthirsty monsters in one night, and we had no choice but to kill them all… and after we dealt with the adults, we searched for their children, hoping that they had survived…" The old man gritted his teeth. "But what we found were five dead children… ranging from the ages of five to ten years old, all dead… inside a wooden coffin…" Hakurei rubbed his temple as he continued his story. "Or at least my brother and I thought they were… we checked their pulse and everything," he explained with a pained voice. "Then, suddenly what we _thought_ was a miracle happened, the oldest of the five children… Aizen Sousuke, started to breathe again."

Naruto's eyes widened, "He… survived?"

"We let our guard down," the Shiomitsu muttered sadly. "We thought it was a miracle… we checked the boy into the hospital and found he was normal, except for the weird enzyme in his body… it was dormant so we thought nothing about it. My brother was a kind man… he felt responsible for Aizen Sousuke so he adopted and raised the child as his own." Hakurei shook his head, "It wasn't until Sagetsu passed away seven years ago that we started to suspect Aizen…"

Aizen Sousuke had been adopted into the Shiomitsu clan and raised by the previous division leader, Shiomitsu Sagetsu. The distrust for Aizen had started to form when the surrogate father had suddenly fallen ill and passed away. At first it was grief that made the Shiomitsu clan want to blame someone… even to the point of Hakurei being paranoid enough to dig up his brother's grave to perform an autopsy of the body. Hakurei was very enraged by what he found. In his brother's body was the same enzyme found dormant in Aizen's body years ago, and it had killed his brother slowly.

However, that evidence was invalid due to the lack of proof and knowledge of how the enzyme could invade Sangetsu's body. In the end, the case was closed, and it was concluded that his brother was poisoned with a slow acting serum during the massacre. There was nothing Hakurei could do to refute that possibility. Aizen Sousuke, on the other hand, took that chance to act as the tragic adopted son Sangetsu left. Sousuke accused them of slandering his name so Hakurei could take his late brother's position, and the split of power in Seal Tower was inevitable – half went to Aizen and another half to the Shiomitsus.

In the end, Sandaime brought up Sagetsu's will, one that, until today, couldn't be confirmed as false or legitimate. So Sousuke was chosen to be the next leader, and he discarded the Shiomitsu surname he took up when Sangetsu adopted him, claiming it disgusted him to shoulder the same surname as Hakurei. Their clan could only swallow bitterly as they lived under the rule of the traitor, and it was only when Naruto had come to their tower that they saw a chance to overthrow Aizen. Unfortunately, Aizen saw a different kind of chance in Naruto. He wanted to use the Uzumaki to unlock the cursed treasure Shodaima and Uzumaki Mito sealed.

The treasure was a legacy that was left behind by a fallen village called Hoshigakure, a meteor that granted immense power. The treasure emitted a foul chakra and was very dangerous, which was why the Shodaime and his wife sealed it in the depths of their tower. The only reason they hadn't destroyed it was because the Shodaime was unsure of the consequences destroying it would cause. Hakurei suspected the Aizen clan originally hailed from the fallen Hoshigakure and had records of the secret treasure, which was why Sousuke wanted its power. In their cursed form, the Aizen clan lost themselves in the power, but the treasure could help them to retain their senses. Aizen was bitter about the death of his clan, so he planned to perfect his cursed seal and avenge his fallen clan

"So that's why…" Naruto gritted his teeth, "he wanted to avenge his clan."

Shiomitsu Hakurei nodded. "Yes, Naruto-sama… a fool's revenge. While I was angered by Aizen's actions until now… I still can't comprehend why that boy wanted to avenge his clan… a clan that had fallen so far for power, to the point they had sacrificed their children."

Or maybe the Aizen clan, from the very beginning, had always had a twisted sense of love. Hakurei had to berate himself and his brother for not noticing that. Sousuke, as a child, had always childishly claimed his late parents loved him so much. For Aizen's, the gift of power was probably proof of their parental love. They were all… broken humans, scorned for their tradition and instead of fixing their error, they strived to fall deeper.

Naruto shook his head, "That man is dead…" For some reason, he felt unease when he declared someone's death, his first kill. "What about… Hinamori, she has been with Aizen for so long… you examined the mind control seal on her right?" Hakurei nodded, "Is there any chance for her to recover?"

Hakurei stiffened at that. "She's asleep now… but when she awoke for a few minutes yesterday… that poor girl, she asked where her little brother was. She was calm… very calm… then suddenly, she cried and begged for her brother to forgive her…"

Hinamori was a war orphan, her village having been destroyed in war. Hakurei didn't know the details, but apparently her little brother had been very sick, and Hinamori had nursed him for days while their parents worked in the field. She'd gotten bored watching him and had decided to play with her friends, so she left her sleeping brother to play for a while with hopes she would make it back before he woke up. Their house was hit by a stray fire jutsu, her little brother was killed in that fire along with their parents, and she was the sole survivor. She was then taken to Konoha severely traumatized by the tragedy.

Aizen adopted her and turned her into the formidable seal master she is today. It's likely Aizen's control over her had lasted so long, the memory disappeared and left her to be molded to Aizen's liking. The sick bastard had dared to claim that he had raised her with the affection she needed, and that was the reason Hinamori had recovered from her trauma. It gained him a lot of support and sympathy, which solidify his position as division leader. The chance of recovery after under mind control seal for so long was almost nonexistent.

"So… her mind was broken," Naruto muttered sadly. The Hinamori he knew might have never even existed, and just been an illusion done by Aizen. "There's got to be a chance to undo the damage." He gritted out. "There's got to be…" he repeated determinedly.

Hakurei didn't dare utter even a word to refute Naruto's conviction, he just hoped with time Naruto succeeded or accept sometimes it was wiser to give up.

The next day, they attended the funeral for Tori and his ANBU team. Hokage comforted Naruto who, even though he shed tears, didn't say a word in front of their graves. When asked why he was so quiet, Naruto answered with a smile.

"I've already told Tori everything I want to say… I'm sure he is telling his squad that I love them." He closed his eyes. "He's probably congratulating his squad right now for a job well done, because they protected me till the very end… He knows I'm grateful for them, and I know… they're very proud of me."

Itachi and Shisui couldn't help but smiled when they heard him, especially because his headband was tied on his forehead now. That was the first time Naruto was wearing his Konoha headband. He was no longer unsure of his allegiance, just like those who had passed on with pride for him and Konoha, he was Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha. And he was... no longer alone.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone protested about Aizen was over-powered and so on. Aizen was probably stronger than Juugo, because he could control his cursed seal form perfectly and he got power boost to boot. Itachi was strong but he was a newbie ANBU at this point and not ANBU Captain with Mangekyou Sharingan, who slaughtered his clan single handedly at 13.  
> And YES, Aizen Sousuke in my story belongs to the same clan as Juugo. They were both original carrier of Cursed seal... there's not much background of how Juugo was born with that condition, so I saw a chance to write a story of my own about the 'origin' of cursed seal. Hence, why Aizen was found dead and suddenly alive again in wooden coffin like Sasuke did to achieve his level 2 curse seal.
> 
> Just to confirm one thing, I 'did' read about Juugo's info about his cursed form and sage transformation. Sorry that I didn't elaborate it, but the demon implantation on Aizen clan is the same as Toad's oil from Myobokuzan, it serve as catalysis to trigger the sage transformation. I would have explain in detail but it kind of hard since Naruto at this point want to know about Aizen's vendetta against Shiomitsu, rather than details of Aizen clan's technique... He will know later but at that point of time he didn't need to know. Aizen is DEAD anyway
> 
> I am sorry you have to endure background story of OCs or rather Aizen and Hinamori in my story, but it would be stupid of me to just leave you guessing how the hell they ended up like that. You guys could dislike OCs, but when it comes to Naruto I could be careless as long as they were in the sidelines. There's a lot of characters in Naruto but they're all have little development if not a very minimum info such as their look, rank and division. What's the difference with OC in that case?
> 
> About the birthday party, don't worry... we'll celebrate it later. Poor Naruto ;_;
> 
> As for Naruto's power level now... hm, I will say he is not as strong in term of physical power as canon Genin Naruto because he is much younger. But he is a more balanced and skilled shinobi. As a combat seal master he has an unorthodox fighting style. He is also not 'completely' helpless in genjutsu because he has Kurama to watch his back like Gyuuki did Killer Bee. Since he is used to fight older and stronger sparing partner, Naruto rely more on his kage bunshin, weapons, and seals. So don't be disappointed that for now he is not a front line fighter, in fact in later years I am expecting him to develop a very different fighting style as his canon counterpart.


	8. Chapter 8

**8th Legacy: The Tower and the Uchiha**

**"I think that... the one thing Naruto-kun fears the most after losing the people he cares about is...**  
to see everything he's sacrificed – his parents, childhood, friends... all be for nothing."  
Uchiha Itachi

**Hospital, a day after the funeral.**

Believe it or not, Jinchuuriki were not infallible beings as far as the bijuu-enhanced healing properties and poison immunity went. Naruto was well aware of that truth since the bijuu had no intentions of deluding his jinchuuriki about their mortality. While it was true bijuu could heal almost any injuries from cuts, broken bones, and even organ ruptures, they couldn't save their jinchuuriki from grave wounds on the level of a destroyed heart or a missing head, and definitely not if someone had a way to disintegrate their body completely, as Kurama put it jokingly. Missing limbs or eyes or the likes had never happened to his previous jinchuurikis, so Kurama had no idea if he could regrow it. Though the fox was sure he could reattach it if Naruto was lucky enough to have not completely lost the limb. Naruto vehemently refused to test that theory.

Poison was tricky stuff, according to Kurama, since he had to be aware of it, otherwise it would go left untreated. While the bijuu was confident he could prevent Naruto from dying of poison, he couldn't prevent Naruto from feeling the headache, nausea, and other symptoms if the poison was strong enough. And some particularly strong poisons would require Kurama to 'burn' it out of his system. When Naruto had asked Kurama to test it using a mild poison, the cut had healed in record time, and the poison had evaporated from his wound, though he'd found the burning sensation to be very unpleasant.

So Naruto had made it clear he disliked being poisoned, because burning it out of his system was a bitch.

So when Naruto found out a unique tasting jelly was laced with poison, he was pretty pissed. He was sweaty from head to toe, and he looked like a cooked crab fresh from the pan. When Shisui and Itachi secretly visited him, they were pretty surprised to see an irate Naruto who looked like he had visited a sauna. "Some fools poisoned the jelly," he muttered as he slammed a privacy seal tag Hakurei had given him on the wall. By the time he had noticed the poison, a spoonful had already made it into his digestive system. It had been a mild poison, but because Kurama knew it would pissed Naruto off, he had burned it out of his body.

 **'Next time be more vigilant!'** Kurama hissed in the back of his mind.

'I'm sorry...' Naruto rolled his eyes. If he wanted to be _that_ cautious, he'd have to revert back to his diet of Ichiraku ramen and wild plants. Though no one had been foolish enough to poison him outright back then, there had always been a risk from the food he'd bought.

Shisui gritted his teeth, "Damn..."

Naruto shook his head, "let it be..." He deadpanned as Itachi handed him a towel to wipe his sweat. "I should've noticed when I saw the nurse who brought my meal looking a bit dazed." Villagers usually limited themselves to doing things that wouldn't get them arrested and/or killed most of the time, but some were brave enough to try their chances, though very rarely.

"Genjutsu," Itachi drawled with a sigh. "Is this the first assassination attempt on you?" he asked curiously. Normally, he wouldn't feel any curiosity for an attempted assassination on his friend's life, but from how deadpanned Naruto's response was, the Uzumaki cared even less than he did.

Naruto shrugged, "Nah... Poison is the easiest and safest way to assassinate me since it's hard to trace, and not even ANBU is paranoid enough to check sealed cartons of milk or instant ramen. Besides, mild poisons only give a jinchuuriki a slight headache or stomachache." He shook his head, imagining a store clerk using a syringe or the likes to inject poison into his groceries. His ANBU guards had never worried of him dying from poison with justified reason, of course.

"I see..."

"Then again, Tori's squad knew my mother and the Uzumaki clan's bad habit of eating stuff that could cause indigestion in normal people..." A habit he had unfortunately picked up. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd drunk spoiled milk before he found out about his jinchuuriki status. Kurama hadn't helped because he'd thought it was hilarious and believed his jinchuuriki should learn for himself, but luckily, it did wonders for his immunity.

The general shinobi population should have known trying to kill a jinchuuriki with poison was futile, especially since no jinchuuriki had ever been recorded of dying of poisoning. No bijuu, including Shukaku, condoned death by poisoning since it was the stupidest way to die according to Kurama. "My status allows me to be careless of what I eat, though I recommend you don't eat in public with me."

Shisui buried his face in his hands. "I can't believe you're talking about an assassination attempt like it's the weather," he muttered in disbelief.

"You want me to bitch about it, Shisui?" Naruto asked out loud. "I'm sure my milk was poisoned from time to time when I was a baby." He raised his hand in placating gesture when he saw Shisui, and even Itachi, looking ready to snap. "It was intentional, a tradition practiced on Uzumaki infants to build up immunity... not an assassination attempt. So basically, I'm more immune than an average shinobi... or even jinchuuriki." He titled his head to the side, "I'm sure Yuzuriha and Tokusa have poisoned my meals, as well as their own, from time to time." Shisui looked ready to scream murder, but Naruto stopped him. "It's a custom from Uzu, and actually not that uncommon in some royal families."

Itachi sighed at that, "I'm speechless..."

"Kurama is wondering why you didn't just grunt a 'hn' instead of announcing your speechlessness," Naruto informed them with a grin.

Itachi and Shisui looked at Naruto in disbelief, "Who?"

Naruto chuckled softly. "I am talking about my tenant."

"You speak to that _demon_?" Shisui asked. "You speak to the _Kyuubi_?" He emphasized the incredulity of the whole ordeal.

" _Him,"_ Naruto corrected, leaving Shisui looking wary. After the incident with Aizen, Naruto believed Shisui had the right to know. It would also lessen Itachi's burden, because he wouldn't have to keep this secret from his cousin. And since the older Uchiha wasn't screaming profanities yet, he was certain Shisui didn't think he was possessed, probably for the same reason Itachi hadn't. Sensor abilities were really convenient.

"I gave you his name because I want you to acknowledge that, while Kurama is indeed a demon and not the epitome of goodness, he's not a mindless, evil entity bent on destroying the world either. He's also not a natural disaster like people in Konoha believe..." he stated in a stern tone, giving the Uchiha no room to argue otherwise. "I trust you, Shisui," he declared with conviction, startling the Uchiha. "Do you trust me?" He knew Shisui was a loyal shinobi like Itachi and how they both were pacifists because of the war they'd witnessed.

Shisui's lips slowly curved up, "You know what... I've always believed that, in spite of how ungrateful most of us are, you've always protected Konoha," he began in a solemn tone. "I don't know if I can trust your tenant, but... I do know your parents entrusted Konoha to you, and I've seen Tori's squad give their lives to protect you and..." He listed on, "Itachi trusts you..." He glanced at his shocked cousin, and had the situation not been so serious, he would've laughed at Itachi's face. "I know my cousin, and he's a better judge of character than I am. I've seen you both put your lives on the line for each other at a moment's notice, but more than anything..." he trailed off, "I trust my friend, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto blinked owlishly at that, "You have a talent for rousing speeches. How unexpected," he muttered with a beaming grin.

The shunshin expert flushed a deep red, "This is supposed to be when you cry crocodile tears because of how touched you are!"

Itachi sighed, rubbing his temple. "Shisui..."

"Nah... I'll pass the crying part," Naruto said dismissively. "At any rate... Kurama doesn't trust you and Itachi," he warned them. The fox would forever distrust the Uchiha name, and though his jinchuuriki trusted the traitorous clan, he would always be vigilant.

Shisui rolled his eyes. "The feeling is mutual," he said nonchalantly. "Are you buddies with him?"

"Somewhat," Naruto said vaguely. "The closest I dare to claim without him throwing a tantrum in the back of my mind is unwilling cell mates. It's hard to trust humans after decades of imprisonment... and in your case, you're related to someone he hates with the fire of a thousand suns."

 ** _'No amount of suns are hot enough to convey my hatred_** _,'_ Kurama declared in mocking theatrics.

 _'Kurama...'_ Naruto shook his head mentally.

"Madara..." Shisui breathed out the name of a previous Uchiha clan leader.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Speaking of that man, there's something we have to tell you, Shisui..."

The shunshin expert cringed when he saw Itachi's tranquil face, because he knew beneath that Itachi was truly angry. "I have a feeling I won't like what you're about to say."

"You won't," Naruto confirmed.

"As you know, eight years ago the Yondaime Hokage..." Itachi told him the conversation he'd had with Naruto last year, and how he tried to convince Naruto of their clan's lack of involvement in the tragedy eight years ago. The blond added his point of view here and there, watching Shisui's frown with worry. "It's unfortunate, but the Uchiha who was responsible for the Kyuubi's attack is not among us, and we have no clue where he is," Itachi finished.

Shisui closed and then opened his eyes, revealing the three tomoe of his sharingan swirling in fury. "I'll kill that bastard..." He hissed murderously, turning to Itachi. "Why the hell hasn't Konoha, or anyone in our own clan, ever tried to find this blood-traitor?! Because of him, we're treated like enemies by our own village!"

Itachi gritted his teeth, "You know our clan! Even though we've denied our involvement, everyone is too ignorant and proud to acknowledge there's anyone out there with the sharingan! That... there's the possibility of a blood-traitor!" Itachi rarely lost his temper, but when he did he had a good reason for it. "I even sorted through our records, looking to see if there was any Uchiha bodies never retrieved or lost eyes..." The Uchiha scion trailed off tiredly.

Naruto, who had been informed by Itachi of the horrifying results, answered. "Officially, the number of Uchiha bodies that were never retrieved from the battlefield is over a hundred." That was from the second and third war alone. "But unofficially... it's unknown..."

"What?!" Shisui shouted. "Unknown?! Shouldn't we keep a track record of that?!"

Itachi shook his head, "It's all because of the third Shinobi war that went on for ten years! Genin with undeveloped sharingan could've awakened it but went missing before it could be recorded, bastard children that no one acknowledged..." he listed the possibilities that caused the record to be inaccurate wearily. "There are so many ways."

"Not to mention our main enemy in that war was Iwagakure..." Naruto added with a sigh. "A majority of our force that fell in that war had to be dug out... you know how Iwa dealt with their enemies."

Shisui scowled at that statement. He had just started academy when the war ended, but his older brother had been one of fallen shinobi in the third war, and even to today, the grave remained just a name without a body. "And after the war, our forces had suffered so many casualties that we couldn't spare the manpower to retrieve their bodies." He repeated the reason his uncle had told him when he'd asked why they'd never received his brother's body.

Letting his temper overrun him here would be pointless, especially if they wanted to accomplish something. He was a bit angry Itachi hadn't said anything before, but he could understand why Naruto wanted to keep it secret. Naruto already had enough on his plate, and to have Konoha's upper echelon hounding him more than they already had was going to crush him. It was truly ironic that, while the whole village was in blissful ignorance, a fourteen-year-old, a twelve-year-old green ANBU, and an eight-year-old genin were the ones who were clued in and trying to do something for the good of their village. Then again, perhaps those upper up folks did know but were doing nothing to defend the Uchiha clan or Naruto from the injustice.

"Should we tell someone from our clan?" Shisui suggested.

Itachi shook his head, "You were screaming bloody murder the moment we told you, and so imagine what the rest of our clan would do... we'd be fanning the flames if we did. The upper echelons of Konoha are also out," Itachi stated sternly. "Since they've done nothing to curb the rumor of our involvement, we can assume two possibilities: they don't know of the stray Uchiha's existence, or they really do suspect us."

"Or worse," Naruto added. "Villagers would be more at ease knowing there's someone they could blame rather than unknown enemies in the dark they never knew of. As the saying goes, better the devil you know than the devil you don't. They could be allowing the Uchiha clan to be the convenient scapegoat to draw the attention of the villagers. Your clan is strong enough to the culprit, and they're part of the village so within jurisdiction... You all can't legally fight back, and the villagers have seen you ostracized. This is political warfare at its finest... a concrete reason to curb the Uchiha's political standing..." He disliked thinking the worse of his grandfather figure and the village, but he of all people had no delusions of the Sandaime being a saint, nor of Konoha having no skeletons in their closet. It was no secret that the Sandaime's teacher, the Niidaime, had held a grudge against Madara and the Uchiha clan, so it was by no stretch of the imagination to conclude his dislike had been passed on to his students.

Shisui gritted his teeth, "Screw politics! We have a bloody traitor out there who can control bijuu – Madara himself or his second coming! We can't afford to worry about politics! The last time that bastard came, we were almost razed to the ground!" he pointed out testily.

Itachi sighed, "I don't think we can just 'screw politics' as you put it, since our village is well on its way of cutting their own limbs if they keep this up..." he muttered forlornly.

"Agreed," Naruto muttered in agreement. "I'm not going to lie, but while my situation and the people of the tower's situation isn't as bad as the Uchiha clan's, we're in a pretty... difficult position right now..."

 ** _'Yeah, and Shukaku is a bit sandy... '_** Kurama muttered sardonically. **_'Or Matatabi is a bit fiery.'_**

Naruto rolled his eyes inwardly at that. "Which is why I'm bringing this topic up with the both of you, because God help me if we can't get out of this next shit storm intact..." There was a dark undertone in Naruto's voice that betrayed his calm expression as he relayed this to the Uchihas.

Itachi and Shisui couldn't suppress their cringe at the rueful look on Naruto's face. "Naruto…" Shisui began, "you're not even out of the hospital yet." Neither were they for that matter. "Maybe we should talk more about this after we're discharged?"

Naruto shook his head, "No… we have no time to wait, because there's disaster on the horizon," he retorted. "For starters, I really hate the formal procedure of medical papers now, and how my fellow seal masters are no masters of stealth..." he moaned. "We were pretty much in critical condition after that battle, and they had to rush us to the hospital or else..." At least they had thought so… After all, finding Naruto and his two surviving friends collapsed, surrounded by so much blood and four dead ANBU, alluded to the search party that they had been on the verge of dying.

"So they had to march through the village in plain sight while carrying us?" Shisui guessed with a frown.

"Yes... but the real problem started in the hospital when the doctors inquired about what the hell had happened to us," Naruto informed them ruefully. "They'd had no choice but to inform the medical staff about the situation, especially when it came to Aizen's true nature... his chakra, how someone (Hakurei's brother) had died because of his clan's enzyme, and so on..."

Itachi frowned, "So... the news about Aizen being a traitor has been leaked now?" Aizen was still Naruto's mentor in official paperwork, so for a traitor to tutor Konoha's jinchuuriki would undoubtedly cause unrest in Konoha. "And they know Shisui and I were involved?"

Naruto nodded, "Not just that... It's no secret half of the tower's inhabitants were avid supporters of Aizen when they thought he was a benevolent leader." Since it was quite a fuss when the position was bequeathed to Aizen, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if a majority of the shinobi population knew about the divided loyalty.

"The Tower may be the core of Konoha's defense mechanism... but half of us are now suspected as traitors..." Even though everyone, including Aizen's men, were equally angry at the dead man. "Hakurei has tried his best... he's checked Aizen's former supporters for evidence of a mind control seal, and fortunately all of them are clean and severely regret ever trusting that bastard, but..."

"But that's not enough assurance?" Shisui guessed warily.

"Yes," Naruto answered with a sigh. "And now they've found out that _I'm_ working in the tower and that the bastard was my ex-master to boot..." he trailed off." Miraculously, this news reached only Konoha's upper echelon and probably a minority of the Shinobi population... "

"Oh dear…" Shisui breathed out. How well the Sandaime could manage to keep it that way was questionable.

"Worst-case scenario: I get removed from the tower – which won't be taken well by the people of the tower at all – on top of them getting the blame for Aizen's betrayal. And if they decided to take drastic measures, the people of the tower will shut down Konoha's defense seal mechanism..."

Shisui blanched at that, "What the hell?! This is the Uchiha's history all over again but on a smaller scale!" Though, the Uchiha's drastic measures would be a coup.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "That's really reckless… There's more to this problem, isn't there?"

"Regretfully, yes," He gritted out. Naruto almost wanted to strangle Hakurei for his stupidity. Even though it wouldn't cripple Konoha permanently, it would deal significant damage to Konoha's defense. Old friend or not, the Hokage and his advisers wouldn't be happy about it. "The majority of the tower's population are refugees from Uzu, and while they've officially been absorbed into Konoha's forces… unofficially, they consider themselves to be doing a favor for Konoha under Uzumaki Mito-sama's order…" Naruto explained grimly. "I had suspected something to be suspicious since Hokage-sama seemed to be keen on keeping me away from them before I was apprenticed, but... I didn't expect this."

"Expect what?"

Naruto face-palmed. While it was understandable he'd been ignorant about how Konoha viewed the people of the tower due to his severe lack of interaction with the village, he still berated himself for being too engrossed in his own problems and oblivious to his surroundings. "They're treated like foreigners, and they act like ones... their loyalty is to an Uzumaki, to me... While Hakurei respects the Sandaime to an extent, his loyalty is to our clan, not Konoha." He buried his face in his hands. "This arrangement was never a problem when Mito-sama was a loyal mother to Konoha, my mother was the same, and Aizen... they had thought that bastard owed them a favor for his position. Hakurei, on the other hand… No matter what the reason, Konoha made Aizen his brother's successor, and the Sandaime closed the case of Sangetsu's mysterious death as terminal illness... add to that Konoha has treated me _,_ the son of an Uzumaki, like a pariah for something I couldn't control..."

"Something Konoha should've kissed your feet for you mean?" Shisui corrected with a huff.

He shook his head ruefully at that, "At any rate... both sides are now aware that the tower is unhappy with Konoha and vice versa. They feel they've been condemned and believe Konoha still owes them a lot," Naruto summarized the whole ordeal grossly. "On the other hand, Konoha has just realized they've pissed off the wrong clan, and it's too late for damage control... while they won't start a civil war, people of the tower will, unfortunately, boycott simply to show how much Konoha owes them..."

Itachi gritted his teeth, this was going to lead Konoha to her doom. "A spark can start a fire that burns the entire prairie… this is the beginning of an end. Our village is going to dismember her own limbs," he concluded grimly. "If the tower starts to act openly hostile to our government… those who are displeased with current government will rebel…" It'll be a domino effect, and Itachi had no delusions that his clan – or at least a fraction of it – wouldn't be eager to restore the Uchiha's power in Konoha. "The upper echelon is undoubtedly unhappy that: one, Hokage-sama put you under the tutelage of a traitor, and two, the people in the tower are irreplaceable since seal masters are a scarcity..." Itachi summarized the situation grossly.

Naruto blinked at that, "Scarcity..." he repeated, frowning as that one little fact sunk in. "There's one mostly harmless solution..."

Itachi and Shisui perked up at that, "What do you have in mind?"

Naruto glanced at the Uchihas, "I need both your guy's help as well as Hakurei's..." The man wasn't going to like this solution, but he would go with it for their sake.

**_'I have a bad feeling about this...'_ **

_'I wish I could say I disagree with you...'_ Naruto thought wishfully. "On a better note, if we can make this work, we'll celebrate that birthday party with cake, candles, song, crackers... I don't care how childish it is if it makes my subordinates happy." He promised solemnly.

* * *

"Old man in a kid's body," Shisui growled out when they were out of Naruto's room, stealthily returning to their own. "Both of you."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "He didn't deserve this," he stated.

"I know," Shisui agreed tiredly. "When I met him I thought I could see you... had the war never changed you." Itachi frowned at that. "It feels like yesterday I saw a kid _trying_ to act mature, and then before I knew it, there was a man in the body of a child..." he hissed regretfully.

Itachi didn't know what to say about that. "Shinobi are people who endure... and we changed." The Uchiha scion felt a little guilty for that, after all when he was three, Shisui and Uncle Obito had treated him like their favorite little brother, but war was never merciful to a child's innocence. Obito had been killed on a mission, and Shisui had lost his older brother, then Kyuubi had attacked their village. And before Shisui knew it, Itachi had become a full pledged shinobi and no longer a little brother he could pamper.

"At least when you're eight years old, you were the talented heir of the Uchiha clan who shouldered our clan's expectation... and you succeeded," Shisui stated ruefully. "Naruto has to face all of this… He should only have to think of how to achieve his dream of living up to his legacy... a simple dream all heirs have, not think of how to prevent a political shit storm that could spark a civil war!"

The prodigy shook his head, "Naruto-kun's life has been devoted to Konoha since he was born..." he muttered forlornly. "I think that... the one thing Naruto-kun fears the most after losing the people he cares about is... to see everything he's sacrificed – his parents, childhood, friends... all be for nothing."

* * *

**Hokage Tower**

Hakurei would always be loyal to the Uzumaki clan, but specifically to Uzumaki Naruto. He was, after all, the boy who had inherited Mito-sama's and Kushina-sama's will. Things he'd always admired about them was their drive as seal masters and unmoving loyalty, though the latter was unfortunately against the boy's wellbeing. It took a saint mentality to survive the mental abuse this village had condemned the young jinchuuriki to. Unlike the ignorant villagers of other hidden villages, Uzushiogakure hailed a jinchuuriki as a hero. Contrary to what was widely believed in the Shinobi world, Mito-sama wasn't the first Uzumaki jinchuuriki of a demon, bijuu or otherwise. Some demons were strong enough to require a human vessel in order to seal them, and those who volunteered to be a sacrifice for the ritual were seen as a hero of Uzushiogakure.

He could never comprehend the foolishness of those who condemned a jinchuuriki to a life of isolation, it was like stepping on a landmine repeatedly.

But for his young master's sake, Hakurei would honor Mito-sama's wish to protect Konoha like they would Uzushiogakure. He, however, would make it clear that Konoha owed Naruto-sama more than they already did.

Naruto sometimes wished he could lead a normal life, well, as normal as a shinobi's life could be. Though that wish had been rendered impossible since the very first hour of his life, because he was made into a jinchuuriki. The Sandaime had definitely tried, but the old kage had failed spectacularly by informing the general populace of his situation. There was no point crying over spilled milk that had become sour, he just hoped he could make this plan work.

"So why did you unseal the treasure, knowing there was a possibility that you could have been unleashing a terrible being?" Homura, the former teammate of Sandaime, asked. "Genin Uzumaki?"

Naruto took a deep breath, "As written in our report, ANBU failed to catch Aizen Sousuke off guard, and he was holding Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui hostage knowing they're dear friends of mine." He would have added Hinamori, but someone who had been under the control of Aizen would be an unfavorable mention. "I'm a proficient seal master but also a mere inexperienced genin level shinobi…" Admit your shortcomings, but don't let them deny your expertise. "Had I foolishly denied Aizen, he would've resorted to more desperate measures, and even I could see that man was not in his right mind," he stated firmly, knowing no one could refute Aizen's unstable mind.

"I see..."

"He would have killed the hostages and myself, but had the situation resorted to sacrificing ourselves to end his ambitions, I would have..." He lied smoothly, ignoring the rueful look on the Sandaime's face. He wouldn't have really sacrificed Itachi, Shisui and his ANBU guards, and he had said as much, but these people didn't need to know that. If they slept better at night believing they knew how fiercely loyal Konoha's jinchuuriki was, it would curry their favor to him.

"Aizen could have tried to power the seal with his malicious chakra, and if we were lucky, it wouldn't have affected the seal at all, but considering the nature of the seal was that of the Shodaime's mokuton chakra... It could have caused an overcharge of the seal because of the corrosive nature of Aizen's chakra. The seal would have spontaneously combusted... and the damage on the Tower would've been inevitable." He let the implication sink in of how disastrous it would've been had Konoha lost the Tower. "I chose to take another risk. I unsealed the treasure for him and attacked him when he was distracted." And it worked, no one could deny that. "I was careless..." Admit your shortcomings, don't deny it or it could be used against you. "Hinamori-san was used as a puppet of Aizen... one that remained active even when I inflicted significant damage on him." A legitimate reason to fail that even ANBU had missed.

Koharu squinted her eyes at the young seal master, but he showed nothing that betrayed their image of him: a prodigy tempered with discipline and completely devoted to the Hokage to repay the privilege that had been granted generously to him. No longer was he the boisterous child he had been. "Very well... I can see your choice as the wiser one with minimal damage. The ANBU squad would have survived had they been more skilled..." Naruto suppressed the urge to clench his fist and gave the councilwoman a rueful smile. "And you resealed the treasure along with that traitor... "

He nodded solemnly, "Yes... Hakurei-shishou has examined the seal himself, and we'll do everything in our power to double the security of the forbidden treasure. And maybe we'll find a way to safely destroy it soon..."

Homura cleared his throat. "That's assuring," he muttered skeptically, "but this report of yours." The man tapped his finger against the manila folder Naruto submitted a day before. "It implied _you_ commanded a squad of ANBU – the very same squad Uchiha Itachi was scheduled to join in a few weeks – and Uchiha Shisui against Aizen."

Naruto frowned at that. "It's true that it was me who relayed the plan to Itachi-senpai, but it was Nezumi's sacrifice and Tori's protection of me that allowed me to finish the seal..." he muttered ruefully.

"That required your special chakra..." Sarutobi finished in stern tone. "At any rate, we should congratulate your coming of age... according to Uzumaki tradition. Congratulations, Naruto-kun, you've lived up to their legacy..."

He bowed in respect toward the old kage. "Thank you for your kind words, Hokage-sama..."

Hakurei nodded approvingly, his young master had done well. He watched as the Hokage and his two advisers exchanged looks of approval, and though the Hokage looked a bit reluctant, there was no ignoring Naruto-sama's potential. He cleared his throat. "It will soon be two years since the beginning of Naruto-kun's formal training as a seal master, and he has surpassed our expectations and completed his basic and intermediate seal levels with flying colors," He informed them proudly. "So it is with pride I declare his apprenticeship fully completed."

He ignored the displeasure on Sarutobi's face; his old friend must have thought he was putting too much of a burden on his young master. Sarutobi was wrong in that account, but he had no desire to correct the old kage. "He's a full-fledged seal master now, but of course, while he has the right to continue research on his own, I will supervise Naruto-kun whenever he needs me," he assured them cordially. "At the rate he's advancing at in the art of sealing, give it three – no, two years... and Naruto-kun will be ready to take an apprentice of his own."

Their eyes widened at that, and Hakurei let himself bask in their incredulous stare. Obviously, they knew nothing about the formal education of the sealing art. The Uzumaki clan was born for this art, and formal education only covered basic and intermediate materials. Those were usually completed in four years by Uzumaki clan members, and Naruto had begun that nearly three years ago. Hakurei was well aware of how his young master abused kage-bunshin no jutsu in learning their arts, but he saw no reason why Naruto-sama shouldn't use every advantage he was given if the headache was worth it.

"Surely you jest," Utatane Koharu accused him.

Hakurei shook his head, "I dare not to jest about something like this, it's been this way since the founding of Uzushiogakure..." he stated firmly, leaving no room for arguments. "Which leads me to my second request..." he trailed off. "As the leader of the sealing division, I cast my vote in favor of his promotion."

They looked hesitant for a moment, but Naruto was well aware the only one who was truly hesitating to promote him was the Hokage. The old kage was worried, and Aizen's betrayal left him guilty and wanting to refrain from putting too much burden on him by promoting him. His advisers, on the other hand, would put the good of the village before his qualms, and if anything, be relieved that Konoha was not left behind in terms of strength because of their jinchuuriki. The awakening of his special chakra would further solidify their opinions on his advancement; not to mention, Hakurei would be pleased.

Homura raised his right hand. "I, Mitokado Homura, approve Genin Uzumaki Naruto's promotion to chuunin." Sarutobi looked at his teammate in disbelief, but quickly turned his attention back to Koharu who followed Homura's example.

"I, Utatane Koharu, approve Genin Uzumaki Naruto's promotion to chuunin..." she muttered in a solemn tone.

Naruto could tell his grandfather figure was inwardly bristling and disapproved sacrificing him for the good of the village even more. However, they _had_ to – they _needed_ to approve his promotion or else. "Hokage-sama..." Hakurei began, and Naruto hoped Hakurei could deliver what he'd asked of him perfectly, or the point of this meeting would be moot. "Naruto-kun strives to be a formidable combat seal master." He gave the old kage a curt nod, his eyes unwavering under the hardened gaze. "And for that he needs field experience. I wish to help my young seal master achieve his fullest potential for the good of our village."

"He is young," Sarutobi stated.

Hakurei rolled his eyes inwardly, the old monkey was as stubborn as ever. "Hatake-kun was six when he became a chuunin." And he couldn't claim that Naruto was different or less talented, not after Aizen's incident, Hakurei thought.

"We're not in war now... There's no reason to push a young child into advancing so quickly," Sarutobi muttered, glaring at the old seal master.

Hakurei snorted inwardly. "There's no reason to deny a young prodigy advancement. If anything, that's more reason to let Naruto-kun be promoted..." he stated firmly. "Times are peaceful... Less dangerous missions are perfect for Naruto-kun to grow at his own pace..." Then he turned to the advisers, "Mitokado-dono and Utatane-dono approve... "

The old kage seemed to be firm in holding his ground, but he knew he was losing. One more push was all it needed unless he wished to be alienated. "Hokage-sama..." Naruto's voice broke his glaring contest with Hakurei, much to his chagrin. "I understand your worries about an inexperienced genin such as myself," Sarutobi flinched guiltily, "however, I wish to improve as a combat seal master. I realize my folly of staying in the tower, severely neglecting my in field experience as a combatant..." He clenched his fist. "I'll not refuse placement on any team of your choosing, Hokage-sama. Konoha _needs_ capable seal masters, and I wish to fill that role."

For all the lies and suffering the old Kage had caused, Naruto knew that Sarutobi loved him. It was unfair to use that feeling, but life never was, especially a shinobi's. "Very well..." Sarutobi closed his eyes, "I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage approve of Genin Uzumaki's promotion to Chuunin rank. May your will of fire burn fiercely for Konoha..."

Naruto bowed deeply in respect, "Thank you Hokage-sama... Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama... I thank you for giving me this opportunity, and I vow to devote myself to Konoha and the will of fire," he vowed solemnly.

He opened his eyes slowly, gazing at Hakurei and the old kage. With this he was one step closer to achieving his purpose, and he clenched his fist in anticipation. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," Hakurei muttered, "You have our gratitude for this..." He trailed off. "In light of Naruto-kun's promotion as a chuunin and full-pledged seal master, I would like to extend an offer to the village as a whole to learn sealing arts...anyone you recommend is welcome into our tower. Foundation subject tests are still required, but those who fail will be given supplementary lessons until they're deemed qualified to start the basic. Afterwards, if they wish to go further, they would be given a personal teacher to supervise their future research on advanced seals. Those we deemed qualified would be offered apprenticeship right away..."

Their eyes widened in disbelief. Did the proud Shiomitsu Hakurei just give Konoha what they'd been asking for since Mito's passing, on a silver platter?

"That's wonderful news."

Surprisingly, Koharu was the first to regain her voice. It felt like just yesterday when Jiraiya had been kicked out of the tower as soon as he'd mastered the basic of the sealing art – which was the most the people of the tower allowed an outsider to learn from them. And to get even that much, they had to test his knowledge on the foundation subjects of fuuinjutsu and get a recommendation letter from a member of the tower. Even those who managed to pass the required qualifications weren't guaranteed to pass the formal education. The clans in the tower were willing to share foundation knowledge, but anything beyond that was guarded jealously. Minato had been a special case, not everyone was a talented prodigy and lover of Uzumaki Kushina. Not to mention Minato's father was a close friend of Hakurei and Sangetsu. As Jiraiya said, his blond student was a lucky bastard when it comes to sealing art.

Hakurei suppressed his urge to grin. While it pained him to share the centuries of knowledge Uzushigakure had achieved with blood, sweat and tears, he knew the result would be worth it. This was just the start, his young master wouldn't do anything half-way. Konoha would be forced, kicking and screaming, into acknowledging their ignorance and where they truly belong! Beneath his young master's feet!

Naruto rolled his eyes inwardly at the slight twitch of Hakurei's hand. The old man must be thinking something about putting Konoha in their place again. It seemed it would take a while to make the people of the tower view Konohagakure as their home. But for now, whatever ploy Hakurei thought he was cooking up for the sake of his people, it would serve to better the cause.

"And another proposal we would like to offer..." Hakurei began grandly, undoubtedly having no intentions of letting the three veterans recover from their short episode of stupor. "…courtesy of Naruto-kun and Uchiha-dono."

Naruto didn't miss the slight twitch of Koharu's and Homura's eyes when they heard about the Uchiha's involvement, especially since it reeked of 'ostracized clans should stick with each other' political strategy. Itachi had informed Naruto that his father was quite floored by the proposal, but the Uchiha clan was grasping straws trying to maintain their noble status nowadays, so the prospect was too good to pass up. Naruto himself had written the proposal to Fugaku, though the stamp was Hakurei's. His retainer was unhappy to involve the Uchiha's, but he couldn't deny they owed Itachi and Shisui nor that it would benefit both the tower and the Uchiha clan. Naruto was also glad that the three students of the Niidaime always tried to hide their prejudice against Uchiha clan; after all, they had to show a united front regardless of the bad blood with the Uchihas. They couldn't reject the proposal without legitimate reason.

Sarutobi, to his credit, managed to find his voice before his old teammates did. "What is it that... you would like to propose, Hakurei-dono?"

Hakurei didn't bother to conceal his smile as he placed a bundle of papers on their desk, a pile for each of them. "Much to our chagrin we haven't really updated our security seals for a long time... due to many unfavorable factors..." He cleared his throat. That was one way to describe status quo between the tower and Konoha's government. "While we have a borderline perfect barrier to detect enemies, we have a very standard and unconventional method when it comes to intruders... thus, I propose a surveillance system that would incorporate Konoha's Military Police Force..."

"Why the Uchiha's Military Police Force?" Koharu blurted out before she could stop herself. She tried to hide her slip up, but to be honest, her teammates were thinking the same.

Naruto suppressed the urge to snort. He had a feeling his grandfather figure was going to ask them to wait so he could consider the proposal... Well, too bad they wouldn't get that chance. "This surveillance system is to monitor our civilian population, and it's within the Police Force's jurisdiction, is it not?" Naruto pointed out with a genial smile that eerily reminded the old Kage of Minato when his successor was scheming. "They know what goes on within the village better than most... so for this proposed system to work, we need their cooperation," he drawled, blue eyes showing nothing but enthusiasm. "And... Chuunin Itachi has spoken with Uchiha-dono regarding this system, so we have a blue print of the mechanism ready to be installed in our village," Naruto informed them formally.

Homura narrowed his eyes at the young blond. "Without discussing it with us first?"

Hakurei raised an eyebrow at the veteran. "We're doing that now, Homura-dono... developing a proposal is strictly within our jurisdiction. In fact, Mito-sama made it clear in her decree we're not allowed to propose an idea that's still premature." It was a lie of course, at least the part about making the seal and proposal, especially since they had just copied the ancient seal Uzushiogakure used long ago with some slight tweaking here and there. "The discussion with Uchiha-dono was vital in the blueprint, so we couldn't afford to finalize it without his assistance."

Hakurei had to say he was impressed the Uchihas were as dedicated as the tower in their duty. They really knew Konoha's civilian population inside and out, housing, security systems, and so on. While they weren't his favorite clan, both sides had a grudging respect towards the other's professionalism. He didn't trust Fugaku fully yet, but he trusted his heir, and Itachi was very loyal to his young master. If the young man dared to betray Naruto-sama, he would deal with the Uchiha accordingly.

"Well then... should we discuss when to begin this project on a later date?" Hakurei urged them, fully enjoying their shell-shocked faces.

"We never agreed to this proposal," Koharu gritted out.

Hakurei leaned in, "Why not? Pray tell, Koharu-dono... is there a mistake you've spotted in our proposal?"

There was none of course, aside from them not trusting the Uchiha clan to manage the system, and they couldn't voice that out loud. Denying the Uchiha the right to manage it was a foolish move. Especially since said system was within Uchiha's jurisdiction – authorized by Niidaime himself.

Sarutobi sighed inwardly, he had nothing against this proposal to be honest. Who knew, this could probably sate the Uchiha clan's growing resentment about their lack of political prowess? It might bite them hard latter, but rejecting this proposal without a sound reason would make The Tower and the Uchihas more hostile. Alienating both of them would crush Konoha's inner defense, and he was well aware the boycott threat from Hakurei had not been called off yet. The Tower and the Uchiha clan were showing a united front, both aware that Konoha had backed them into the corner, and so were willing to work with each other. And in the middle of that was Naruto-kun, who was fond of his new family and friends. He had shown growing distrust toward Konoha's general population, and refusing this proposal would make it worse. Especially since Naruto saw nothing wrong with the proposal… technically, there was none, but politically...

For a political scheme to rear its ugly head here was unfavorable for their side.

Sarutobi steeled himself as he straightened his back, "Very well... I approve this proposal." From the corner of his eyes, he could see his old teammate's hesitation, but they all knew it would do more harm than good to reject this proposal. "We'll have another meeting to discuss this matter further and to proceed with its actualization."

Naruto felt like a heavy burden had just been lifted from his shoulders, and the world seemed brighter from what it was moments ago. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he breathed out in relieved voice. Sarutobi almost gasped when he saw Naruto's smile. It was a small, beautiful smile, a smile he hadn't been given since he gave Naruto the apprentice right. His heart almost stopped from the shock but the emotion was quickly replaced with a familiar warmth. The same warmth that occurred whenever he managed to give a shred of happiness to the young jinchuuriki.

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

Itachi had never asked for anything from his parents and had always been an obedient child who did what they asked unquestionably. He was a prodigious son befitting of the main family of the Uchiha clan. So when Itachi did ask something of them for the first time, Fugaku didn't know whether to be pleased or horrified by Itachi's request. But this was a special occasion. At first he considered giving Naruto a nice set of high quality kunai and shuriken, but dismissed the idea the moment he remembered that the Shiomitsu was a clan of blacksmith. There was no way he could get some with higher quality in the market than theirs.

While Itachi would never admitted it, he was well aware there was some sort of rivalry between him and Shisui with the Shiomitsu siblings when it came to Naruto. He wanted to give his best friend a memorable present, especially since this was the first time Naruto had celebrated his birthday. The last few days had been hectic, but thanks to Naruto's quick wit, they'd managed to avoid a civil war, while pocketing a favor from his clan no less. His parents had been in a very good mood since then, and it was the perfect opportunity for him to ask for their assistance.

"Do we have anything that belonged to the Yondaime or Kushina-san that could be given to Naruto-kun?" Fugaku repeated his son's request.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, I wish to give him something from them. I assure you that Naruto-kun isn't asking for this personally…" Itachi clenched his fist. "It's just… I want him to have something to hold on to…"

* * *

_"What you can tell me about the Yondaime and a redhead named Kushina?" Naruto asked one afternoon while sitting on a branch of Yūjō no Ki._

_Itachi stiffened and looked at Naruto, eyes wide. "I…"_

_Naruto shook his head. "You don't have to tell me anything," he smiled sadly before sighing. "This secrecy law really sucks. Just keep it a secret I ever asked…"_

_Itachi cut him off with, "The Yondaime was a calm, collected, and perceptive shinobi…" Naruto stared at him in shock, and for the first time since he met the blond child, Itachi saw under his calm mask of a prodigal seal master. "He was known for his unbeatable determination and unbelievable drive, something I believe he has passed on to…"_

_Naruto shook his head again. "You should stop there, Itachi. You'll get in trouble if you continue," he warned the Uchiha scion._

_"But more than anything…" Itachi continued, "He deeply cared for and loved his family…" The onyx eyed youth smiled sadly. "When I was four, I remember seeing him tackle my father because he was so happy about a new addition to his family…"_

_"… Is that so?" Naruto muttered, tears starting to pool in the corner of his blue eyes._

_"Kushina-san was a friend of my mother. She was renowned for her beauty and prowess as a kunoichi. My mother said she had a temper and was fearless, so it was a big surprise to see Kushina-san worried about labor pains like most women." Itachi took a deep breath. "She was very kind… and I'm sure she would be a loving mother…"_

_Naruto smiled at that. "I think you can stop now…" He looked as though he was barely holding back tears. "You've told me enough… I'm sorry to have troubled you with such a selfish question."_

_"It's not…"_

_"I think it is," Naruto corrected. "It's troubling, isn't it? If you continue I'll be too greedy for my own good," he muttered, wiping his tears away and slapping both of his cheeks until they reddened. "Okay! Break's over! Let's get back to training!" And with that, the jinchuuriki sprinted to the nearest clearing to do just that._

* * *

"Very well."

Itachi blinked owlishly at his father. He had been expecting his father to refuse, and then for his mother to attempt to persuade him. "Eh?"

Fugaku nodded. "We happen to have something that was given to us... that I'm sure is inconspicuous enough to be given to the child."

Mikoto eyed her husband in shock. "Dear… could it be you're thinking of that?" she asked in disbelief.

Fugaku nodded. "Yes, that."

"You can't be serious!" She looked horrified by the idea. "That's not something you'd give a child!"

Fugaku shrugged. "Do you have a better idea, because a photo album is definitely out." Mikoto looked disheartened. "So are other obvious things, like Minato's special kunai…"

"Tou-san, Kaa-san…" Itachi called to get their attention. "I assure you he'll treasure anything you can give… he has nothing from his parents." Aside from the demon in his gut which Naruto could fortunately call a friend. "He… he bears so many burdens and has received nothing in return…"

Fugaku and Mikoto looked at each other. "Very well…" Mikoto said, giving in as she and her husband stood up from their seiza. "I will fetch it for you, just don't freak out when I tell you what it is," she muttered with a sigh.

Five minutes later Itachi stared at the thing his mother gave to him. No wonder his mother thought it was an inappropriate gift for a child. But then again, it was the thought that mattered, right?

Fugaku cleared his throat as he reentered the room. The clan head handed over a book titled _The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi_ to his son who accepted the book with a puzzled look. "This is something I forgot to return to a certain blond idiot. Give it to his next of kin."

Itachi nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Of course… Tou-san."

"Also..." Fugaku trailed off uncomfortably.

"Yes?"

"I think your mother should tell you the details of what she was going to give to you," Fugaku muttered forlornly.

* * *

**The next day**

It was a beautiful bird mask with a white base, red and black markings adorning it. However, unlike a normal mask, it only covered half of his face, from his nose up. Together with the mask was a custom-made headband made of black cloth with a red Konoha symbol; it covered his neck, chin, and half of his cheek. When worn together with the mask, only his mouth and a small part of his cheek could be seen. When he received the gift his late ANBU guards had entrusted to Shion, Naruto hadn't expected a mask or the headband at all. The Sandaime Hokage's eyes widened when he saw Naruto putting the mask on, and Naruto didn't miss the grief on the aged Kage's face. The blond narrowed his eyes beneath his mask, it either belonged to his parents or was a replica Tori and his squad made.

Naruto took off the porcelain mask, inspecting the back part and noted there was a small hinge on both side and the bottom part slid down, and the mask turned to be a full cover one. He inspected the pattern next. There was a black triangle with red lining from the bridge of the nose to the temple, while its beak was red. "What bird is this?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Wagtail," Sarutobi answered with a sad smile. "Sekirei... in folklore or Ainu. It's said that they were sent by Kamui to create habitable land in the watery world. A small bird capable of great things..."

The blond couldn't help but smiled at that, "Oh... I see." Was that what Tori and his squad thought of him?

Itachi frowned at that, recalling an old memory from when he was four years old. His mother and Uzumaki Kushina had been talking about names they were planning for their unborn sons. It was so long ago, but he remembered because his mother – or was it Kushina-basan? – had talked about wagtail being her old ANBU mask, and how she was considering naming her child Sekirei if she had a daughter. "Aren't they the sacred birds of the two divine gods Izanagi and Izanami (Goddess of creation and death); for it was through them that these divinities first learned the art of love?" Itachi blurted out.

Naruto and Shisui went wide eyed, while Sandaime coughed. "Love?" Naruto sputtered in disbelief. "Art of love?"

"Well..." Itachi looked very uncomfortable. "Someone once told me wagtails are the birds that taught love to humanity." Kushina had sounded very proud when she told that to his mother, and his mother had gushed at that.

Naruto heard Kurama snort at that and say something along lines of how humanity was pathetic if they were taught how to love by insectivorous birds. "Oh..." Now he could guess whose mask it was, or at least where Tori and his squad had gotten the idea from.

"It's Shinto mythology..." Itachi shrugged.

Then Naruto turned to the Sandaime Hokage. "Jii-chan, is the Ainu's myth right?"

The aged kage smiled at that, "Ah yes... according to the Ainu clan." They were both very knowledgeable, and sometimes he wondered how the two prodigies managed to squeeze time to broaden their horizon with their already busy schedules.

Shisui grinned from ear to ear as he slung his right arm around Naruto's shoulder. "Wow, so... the mask represents a lot of meaning!"

"Don't you dare make a crack out of it," Naruto hissed into his ear.

Shisui grinned at that. "Oh, of course not! Ha ha ha..."

Naruto turned his attention to the pile of presents he received, and to be honest, he was almost teary eyed at the mere sight of it, but he wouldn't hear the end of it from Shisui if he dared to cry. It was the first time in his life he'd seen presents piling like this for him. Normally, he only received a couple of gifts from the Sandaime and his ANBU guards, while Ichiraku gave him free meal coupons.

Sandaime had given him a high quality weapon pouch and kunai holster this year, and the Shiomitsus had given him a complete set of brushes, which were undoubtedly pricey judging from the ornamented box. Yuzuriha and Tokusa were, thankfully, considerate enough to add a brush hanger made of bamboo and a brush carrier made of durable black cloth he could wrap around his thigh like a kunai holster. Other seal masters had gifted him with seal supplies they made personally, shinobi standard undershirts, sweets, or plants. The latter was very appreciated, although Hakurei was torn between being amused and exasperated that the rooftop of their tower resembled a jungle rather than a rooftop from afar.

Shisui had given him a hug, much to his chagrin, before shoving a neatly wrapped present at his chest. Naruto had been really wary of Shisui's grin, as it made it seem whatever was inside was probably one hell of joke. And Itachi... He had to wonder what the Uchiha heir had gotten. Itachi had gone through the trouble of arriving one hour early, only to pass the neatly wrapped gift to him as though it was some sort of secret forbidden scroll. He had then proceeded to tell him that he should keep it a secret if possible with a weird look on his face as he glanced back at the present. What had Itachi gotten into for this secret present?

The cake, thankfully, was edible and was presentable, too, though Naruto suspected Shion had had a hand in helping Yuzuriha and Tokusa. It was a mystery how they were skilled seal masters and decent cooks, yet for some reason, oven and cream pipes never agreed with them. He had taken a few peeks at their experimental cakes, and some looked like charred coals, while the frosting looked like froth rather than cream. A few had also looked a bit demented with bloody fingerprints all over them. He had resigned himself to eating whatever they produced on this day as he was confident that Kurama could prevent the worse.

Fortunately, his fear was unfounded since Shion definitely wouldn't let his cousins attempt to poison their young master, in his birthday at least.

Naruto sighed as he took a plate of macha mochi from the buffet table, then handed it to Itachi. "Eat up, I won't bug you about unhealthy sugar intake today..."

Itachi blinked owlishly at that. "Thanks."

Sandaime raised a graying eyebrow at that, while Shisui laughed in the background.

* * *

A few hours later, after most of the guests went home, Naruto began to unseal presents he hadn't unwrapped yet. In total he had about fifteen as some seal masters had pitched to get a single present, which was why the number of gifts didn't add up to the number of guests. Naruto opened Shisui's present that was wrapped in a blue cloth like some sort of bento, and when he held it up, the present was pretty heavy. He slowly untied the knot, his eyes widening when he saw a pair of geta. He suppressed his urge to scream Shisui's name in rage when he saw that the baka had given him a pair of Tengu Geta. The elevated wooden base was twenty centimeters thick!

**_'He got you there midget!'_ **

_'Shut up, Kurama! I'll grow taller than him! It's not fair to compare him with me now since he's in his growth spurt period!'_

Kurama rolled his eyes, _**'Eh... in case you forgot, he's six years older than you.'** _

_'Hmph!'_ Naruto vowed that he would raise hell on Shisui the next time they sparred. So he moved onto the next present, which was from Itachi, and the one he was most curious about. It was wrapped in a simple neat red wrapping paper with a card attached to it. Since this was Uchiha Itachi, the card only had 'Happy Birthday' and his name written on it. Then again, he had already received too many sappy congratulation cards from his subordinates. He unwrapped it carefully, cutting the perfectly lined tape with scissors. Trust Itachi to be a neat freak. Inside was a small brown box that encased the present that Naruto opened. He blinked in confusion when he saw a book titled _The Tale of Utterly Gutsy Ninja,_ which was not a weird present from one bookworm to another, but the other present tipped him off.

It was a small, orange brocade bag with red Uzumaki swirls embroidered on the front part. It took three seconds for his brain to register it as an Omamori (Japanese Charm) and that _Itachi_ had given him a well-wishing gift. Was it common to give this as a birthday present? He wondered as he took the charm out of the box, feeling what was contained inside. He frowned when the tip of fingers felt the contents, something like a bundle of threads and something rectangular made of hard wood. He flipped the omamori so he could see the back pack and froze when he saw the word that was embroidered with red thread on it.

 _En-musubi_ : acquisition of a mate and marriage.

"Heh?" His brain tried to process that not only had Itachi given him a charm, it was charm for romance. It took a full minute for his brain to reboot.

 ** _'I think I've seen that thing before somewhere,'_** Kurama muttered in the back of his mind. **_'Aha! Kushina gave that to one of her Uchiha friends years ago! Engagement present or something ha ha ha."_**

" _Kaa-san's? What's inside?"_ He knew it was inadvisable to take a peek on an Omamori's content, but he had a feeling whatever was inside was meant to be taken out of the brocade bag. He carefully loosened the rope that tied it, using his forefinger and middle finger to pick up the object. His eyes widened when he saw a small framed photo, a picture from his dream. His father was smiling as he hugged his pregnant mother who sat on a chair, caressing his father's hair fondly. "This is..."

 ** _'Ho..._** **_How daring of them.'_** Kurama was mildly impressed; those Uchiha could get in trouble with the Sandaime if the old kage found out.

Naruto trembled as his shaking finger traced the photo, a portrait of his family! One that even had him in it, never mind he was still in his mother's womb! The small part of his mind that still held childish mischievousness added that Kurama counted as being in photo as well. It took him only a few minutes to snap out of his musings, because beneath his happiness, fear and anxiety started to surface. If this photo was discovered by someone there would trouble, more so for Itachi. He quickly put the photo back inside the brocade bag, albeit reluctantly. He'd have all the time in the world to look at it later once he created a good seal to secure it. His mind browsed through all the genjutsu, security and durability seals he could use.

Kurama rolled his eyes at the whirlwind of thoughts. **_'Stop before you fry your brain~'_**

Naruto ignored Kurama's grumbling, and as he put the photo back, his fingers brushed something smooth with a thread like texture. He carefully pulled it out, blinking owlishly at the content. Suddenly, Itachi's disconcerted face made a lot of sense. His friend had just had his first taste of culture shock.

Well, he'd made it up to Itachi _somehow_.

His eyes were drawn to the tengu geta Shisui had given him, and in spite of his maturity, Naruto still had the curiosity of an eight-year-old boy. And since nobody was looking, Kurama aside of course... he put the geta on. Standing at his full height, he began walking around in his living room, staggering a bit as he came to a conclusion. "Maybe I shouldn't kill Shisui for this joke, in fact... I owe him one," he muttered thoughtfully.

He'd have a full day tomorrow to practice wearing these thing by himself, because Itachi and Shisui had a family gathering tomorrow if he recalled correctly. Now, if only he could figure out a nice sound absorbing seal to reduce that clap-clop sound or learn how to walk silently on these geta they would be perfect!

That night for the first time since Aizen killed his ANBU guards and broke Hinamori's mind, Naruto had a deep and dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now... I think 'FORGET THE TIME SKIP OR NO TIME SKIP' since it doesn't matter much anymore rather than would I let Uchiha Massacre to happen or not, we all seems toward HELL NO. And for your info the latest political move is a temporary solution, it's not stopping the isolation Konoha condemned to Uchiha at all... and the suspicion is still there.
> 
> Before anyone protested Naruto's promotion is a sign of him growing overly strong, hell NO. Even in canon, who got promoted when Naruto, Sasuke and Neji didn't make it? Shikamaru who shows he has tactical mind, know his limit and one of the weakest in term of strength. Making it to Chuunin as far as I concerned is not a sign of power, or at least not 'always' raw power and physical skill. You also have to note Naruto is a specialist in this story, he is smart but his experience is real battle is just once with Aizen. He is not a frontline fighter like Itachi and Shisui, at this point he'll do well as a support type.
> 
> In conclusion, he is promoted for the same reason as Shikamaru in canon. And regardless what Sandaime feels, it's not right to keep their jinchuuriki holed up in the tower as a researcher. Bijuu are given to each village to stabilize balance of power by Shodai, Naruto won't be a secret forever to the world and like it or not they needed him to be strong as representation of Konoha's strength. Naruto is also a combat seal master, and The tower just opened a chance for Konoha to gain more skilled seal masters, it would be stupid if Konoha keep one of their rarest asset in the village without field experience. I aim for a realistic progress in power and skill for Naruto, though standard in Naruto's world is unrealistic already considering Kakashi is chuunin when he was six.
> 
> At any rate... I hope you can understand that Naruto's promotion is justified though with politic backing unfortunately. Life is never fair to him anyway~
> 
> Next chap, Naruto is completing his fighting style LOL


	9. Bond from Forgotten Legacies

**9th Legacy: Bond from Forgotten Legacies**

_"If they chose you to be their master, they're yours to wield..._  
I'd rather my family's legacy be in use than just sitting here and collecting dust in this old, abandoned chamber."  
Uzumaki Naruto  


Political language... was designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and give the appearance of solidity to pure wind. Naruto had read that from one of his favorite book, and when it came to the politics of a Shinobi village, it couldn't be truer. It was ironic in a sense that the Shodai Hokage had formed an alliance with Madara to build the village – nobly intending to stop conflict between the clans – but in the end, the physical fight had turned into a political conflict, full of underlying political opposition and bribing. Naruto hated all those despicable political issues with the fire of a burning sun. While he couldn't deny a government and military body like Konoha's could live without it, it didn't mean he had to like it. He just accepted it as a part of nature, like a food chain.

**Shimura Danzo.**

Hakurei had warned him that the scarred veteran had been sniffing around them, fearing the tower would become a threat to Konoha. Fortunately, Hakurei was nowhere near as softhearted as the Sandaime when it came to Danzo. The Sandaime _let_ Danzo handle the dark, unmentionable actions that had to be done for the sake of Konoha. Hakurei, on the other hand, had no wish for Danzo's wrinkled hands to be anywhere near his young master or their tower. If there was one thing Hakurei and 'Aizen' ever agreed on, it was that they disliked Danzo trying to worm his way into the Sealing Tower. The old war hawk could snoop around in hell for all they cared, but The Tower was off limits.

Apparently a few months after Uzumaki Mito's passing, ROOT had done the grave mistake of bringing The Tower's wrath upon them. Like any other military organization, ROOT couldn't keep everything they did a secret. However, instead of revamping their security or re-inspecting their personnel, Danzo had dared to steal the **Iwazaru no Fuuin** (Speak No Evil Seal) from the Tower's archive to prevent the information leakage of his organization. The Tower had been furious when they'd found out and had demanded the Sandaime execute Danzo, but it was denied because of the lack of evidence. The Sandaime however was wise enough to _officially_ disband ROOT to appease The Tower's wrath, much to Danzo's ire.

That was the start of the widening rift between The Tower and Konoha. The Tower, distrustful of Konoha's government, set up another layer of security seals to ward off Danzo. Iwazaru no Fuuin was a complex seal that keyed into his chakra signature to control his subordinate's speech, and it was easy for seal masters in the tower to ward their place by triggering the seal. If any ROOT member marked with Iwazaru no Fuuin came anywhere near The Tower's ward they would be paralyzed – just like if they tried to speak anything about Danzō – rendering them unable to speak or move.

The old war hawk had been infuriated when he'd found out The Tower created a seal that responded to him and his men. Since then, Danzo had held a grudge against the tower for the humiliation it had done to his person and organization. Which was why even though Hakurei was a loyal vassal, and he wasn't hesitant in relaying Danzo's work to Naruto. Regardless of how unsightly it was for the eyes of a young child. The Tower might be careless of what became of Konoha before Naruto came, but they were not ignorant of potential enemies such as Danzo. Naruto had to say he had never expected Konoha to be this rotten in their root, and Danzo was the source. From what Naruto had been informed, that man really had no qualms when it comes to Konoha's greater good.

When Hakurei described what kind of man Shimura Danzo was, and what the scarred veteran had done for Konoha, Hakurei asked Naruto what he thought about Danzo. "Hm... he is despicable for sure." An expected response for Hakurei, "But on the other hand, he is such a pitiful person." That one was unexpected however.

"Why do you think so, young master?" Hakurei inquired, "This man was a political enemy of your father, and he is already ours as well..."

Naruto sighed at that, gently closing the book he was reading. "Other than for snooping around and asking the Sandaime to turn me into one of Konoha's emotionless weapons?" Naruto snorted. "His methods aside, that man is _reasonably_ wary because I was tutored by a traitor, while the villagers treat me like I am an unwanted pest _unreasonably_..." he listed on. "Funny isn't it? Of all people in the village, I can't feel offended that a man wanted to turn me into a weapon."

Hakurei sometimes wondered how such a young child could be so rational knowing someone was out to turn his life into a living hell. Then again, Naruto's closest friend was Uchiha Itachi, and Hakurei had seen how they could go on for hours discussing philosophy, history and politics that should be ten years too early for them. If it was his choice, these children wouldn't be burdened by the older generation's mistakes. It was too late to regret it now, however... at this point Naruto-sama had no intentions of backing out, he would fight tooth and nail to earn his rightful place in Konoha.

"All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome," Naruto quoted from the book he'd read earlier. "I think Danzo is a pitiful man so consumed by his own ideals that he's lost sight of what he should believe, just Konoha... _his_ Konoha no less."

Hakurei chuckled softly at that, "You're very perceptive, young master."

He shook his head at that, "I'm nothing but a child, but there's a concept I hate most... _Greater Good,_ but from what I can see, the Sandaime and his advisers buy into it." Why else would they release his status as a jinchuuriki to the public but not his heritage? "However, Danzo seems _too_ lost it. His greater good is the future that coincides with his wish of an ideal Konoha... the conflict in the land of wood or skirmish in Swamp Country? He brings more harm than good in Konoha and yet he firmly believes in what he is doing... since he keeps doing it regardless of the trail of blood he's leading to Konoha..."

"You seem to have a solid grasp of what kind of man Danzo is, young master..." Hakurei had to say he was impressed his young master managed to get that much just from the information he'd gathered.

Naruto titled his head to the side, an amused smile painted on his lips. "What makes you think I do?" He asked incredulously. "It's merely my imagination of the kind of man who's subjected himself to staging so many tragedies for the good of his village." A man who sold his body and soul for the greater good and in the end lost sight of it.

"A wild imagination but spot on nonetheless..." Hakurei complimented. "But do be careful of this man. He treads through very dangerous territory in his self-righteous ideals... regardless of how pitiful he is." The old seal master murmured in a sardonic tone.

Naruto laughed at that, "I am young, but..." he tapped his temple, "someone inside me is much older than Danzo, and he's seen so many things through the eyes of Mito-sama and my mother."

"Kyuubi-dono has political skill?" Hakurei asked curiously.

"He is a fox of many talents, according to him..." Naruto quipped.

* * *

**Training ground 19**

It was another beautiful day in autumn, calm and windy as usual. Though the calmness was broken by the boisterous laughter of a certain Uchiha. "Ha ha ha ha ha!" Shisui laughed so hard tears pooled in his eyes, holding his side that ached because of the fit of laughter. He was definitely a picture that brought shame to the Uchiha's tradition of stoniness. Not that he cared, hell no, not at all.

Naruto's left eye twitched irately, he knew he looked ridiculous but shouldn't they give him a break? The blond jinchuuriki smiled, though it clashed horribly with the throbbing vein on his temple. "Laugh all you want, Shisui… laugh while you can."

"He heh…" Shisui smiled sheepishly.

Then Naruto glared sharply at Itachi who was as expressionless as ever, but the slight shaking on his shoulders betrayed his stoic face. "And you, Itachi, do you think I don't know you're laughing inside?!" he growled, flushing a deep red.

Itachi cleared his throat, "My apologies… but well…cough! Excuse me." The coughing was a pretty horrible cover; that was the last straw.

They could almost hear the sound of Naruto's patience snapping. "Argh!" The blond boy took it off then threw the green chuunin vest on the floor with more force than necessary. "I've had it with this stupid thing!"

Shisui laughed harder, rolling on the ground. "Ha ha ha! It's not our fault there's no more chuunin vest your size, Naruto… not since Hatake graduated at least!"

Itachi looked at his old vest, he had no hard feelings over it since he never wore it. "Well…" he drawled as he took his vest off of the ground, "mine is probably the smallest Konoha's ever produced since the end of the third war." And probably the last one, too.

Naruto steamed up, "I look absolutely ridiculous in that!" Itachi's old vest was of course, too large for him. While he was taller than the average eight-year-old, he was still shorter than the ten-year-old Itachi. The vest was already one size too big for Itachi when he was ten, so on Naruto it kept slipping from his shoulders. The armhole was twice the diameter of his arms, and the vest reached below his waist. "Forget it! I'm not wearing that thing! Who cares if no one knows I'm a chuunin?" he huffed angrily.

"Eh... we should take a picture of you wearing Itachi's old vest! You looked absolutely adorable!" And the next thing Shisui knew, he saw a kick aimed towards his head. He was pretty sure had he not dodged, the kick would have done damage to his cranium beyond repair, especially since the tooth (wooden base of the geta) had a steel layer on the bottom. "I swear my life flashed before my eyes just now!" he yelled at Naruto who had jumped off of his perch on the tree, and almost landed an axe kick on the Uchiha's head.

Naruto snorted at that. "I'm just testing your present, Shisui," He reasoned innocently. "It feels awesome!"

The older Uchiha blinked, "Oh really? I thought you were going to throw a fit over it."

Itachi frowned at that, "You gave that to him as a joke?" Geta were very agile and nimble footwear for bad roads and steep slopes. It was good for building up one's strength, and Itachi had seen them be used for training in martial arts. Knowing Shisui, the older Uchiha probably gave shoes to Naruto primarily as a joke with the function following second. It was just like Shisui to be so thoughtful but mischievous at the same time.

Itachi kind of guessed Shisui would act dumb. "As an adult we should forgive childish pranks such as this..." Naruto muttered in a faked condescending tone, and Shisui rolled his eyes at that. "At any rate... the height boost aside," Shisui burst into laughter at that, "they complement the fighting style I'm working on," he chirped as he leaned back. For a moment it looked as if he was going to fall, but a skillful spin on the tooth of his geta made him stand back to his full height.

"Great, now he is hooked on that thing." Shisui grumbled under his breath.

* * *

A good shinobi didn't rely on their eyes alone, but at the same time a good shinobi had keen eyes. Many trained their other senses so they wouldn't be at a disadvantage – usually their hearing or sense of smell – however, as long as their eyes were functional, Shinobi relied on their eyes the most. It didn't matter how sensitive their other senses were, if the situation permitted it, shinobi would still use their eyes more than any other senses. There was a reason why doujutsu-bearing clans were hailed in any village.

Naruto, whose sparring partners were geniuses of the Uchiha clan, knew that fact _very_ well. It was annoying how they always seemed to know how to counter him. So when he observed falling leaves, feathers and other light objects, he got an idea. It was a pretty simple idea, and he wondered why no one had thought of it before. Probably because there were simpler methods, such as Maito Gai's insane speed. If you couldn't stop the Sharingan from predicting your next move, just move faster than their body could. Or there was the standard method other hidden villages taught their shinobi when fighting against Uchiha: run away if you're alone, and if you have the advantage in numbers, surround the Uchiha since they had a blind spot as wide as a normal human unlike the byakugan.

His method? Sounded much simpler, but to achieve it one had to be very persistent and perceptive, and fortunately, he was both.

Shisui was very intrigued when he requested a pure taijutsu spar with the sharingan active, after all in that condition Shisui could hand him his ass faster than you could say ninja. So when Shisui dodged his upper cut, the shunshin expert was completely baffled when Naruto landed a solid kick on his waist that was enough to make him howl in pain. Naruto might not be as experienced, skilled, or as fast as Shisui or Itachi, but when it came to brute strength alone, the Uchiha couldn't rival Naruto in spite of his young age.

The Shunshin expert was a bit dazed before he turned his attention back onto his sparring partner. Naruto rolled his eyes to the right and with a sharp jerk, turned his head to look to the right. Shisui followed his example on reflex and was rewarded with a vicious left hook. Naruto somersaulted backwards, putting ten feet of distance between him and Shisui. Both sides charged head on, and looking at Naruto's right foot, Shisui's sharingan predicted a front kick. That was odd, Naruto's strong leg was his left one. Shisui moved his leg, ready to intercept the kick with his own, but his eyes widened when Naruto suddenly came to abrupt halt and ducked to dodge his kick. With his leg outstretched, Shisui lost his balance for a short moment, and Naruto jumped at him. Shisui rolled to the side to dodge and regained his balance.

Naruto smirked when he saw Shisui charge at him, fed up with being on defense. Naruto, who had seen the incoming punch, dodged to the side, however Shisui predicted that move first and spun around to cut Naruto's path with a side kick. Much to Shisui's surprise his kick met empty air, not because he predicted Naruto's movement wrongly but because the blond was slower than his prediction and landed an inch away from his kick. It was a strange occurrence, and he tried to attack the seal master again, eager to land a hit.

Uchiha Shisui was aware that Naruto was faster and stronger than the average genin – the blond was already a chuunin – but his field experience was practically nonexistent. His chakra capacity and stamina were definitely larger than both Itachi's and Shisui's, and most of the time they sparred, his main strategy was dragging the fight as long as possible to wear them down. This spar was exactly that, but Shisui didn't care about winning the spar as much as he cared about figuring out Naruto's new fighting style. Naruto was out of rhythm of his predictions, the seal master either being a bit faster or slower, throwing Shisui off. He raised his leg high in the air and struck with an axe kick, purposely giving Naruto plenty of time to dodge.

The Uchiha's eyes widened when he saw the way Naruto dodged. It was as if the blond was weightless when he jumped away, or rather, it was more correct to say he _floated_ away. It was like Naruto was less affected by gravity his movements were so smooth and light. Every time Shisui tried to hit him, Naruto would dodge it, but Shisui could tell he was uncomfortable when he did so. Naruto was concentrating really hard, as if the feint and light movement were a multitasking ordeal for him.

"Let's stop here," Shisui suggested after half an hour. Usually, sparring that long wouldn't even get Naruto winded, but Shisui could see that even though he was completely exhausted yet, he was definitely frustrated. He was sweating heavily and his breathing was nearly ragged, but it seemed he was more tired in mind than in body. "That was a pretty weird taijutsu style, I've never seen anything like it! You even got a few solid hits on me and I didn't _see_ them coming at all, and when I did, I couldn't react in time."

Itachi, who had been quiet since the beginning of the spar, piped in, "You turned our eyes against us, didn't you?"

Shisui raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Naruto grinned at that as he gave them a peace sign, "He he... that's one aspect of my fighting style!" He grinned from ear to ear, "Sharingan or not your eyes are still human, and they still follow the characteristics of human eyes..."

"I see..." Itachi murmured.

Naruto titled his head to the side, "Well..."

"Wait! Is it okay for you to explain your fighting style to us? I thought you wanted to keep the trick secret?" Shisui inquired.

Naruto shrugged at that, "I want your review on it, Shisui... besides, my fighting style isn't supposed to be a secret from you. Knowing the trick doesn't mean it will be useless against you anyway," he huffed. "Just because you have complete understanding of a jutsu doesn't mean it won't work on you right?" Shisui nodded at that. "Besides... my fighting style is the kind that arouses your instincts, unless you can completely ignore your brain impulses – which is very unlikely – understanding my fighting style won't save you." Not that it was infallible. Naruto, of all people, knew there was no such thing as a perfect style or jutsu.

"Okay..." Shisui relented.

Naruto cleared his throat. "My fighting style revolves around misdirecting your eyes," he began, the two Uchiha listening to him raptly. "Unlike other senses, sight is the most developed sense in humans and also the most instinctive because it dominates around 80% of our perception. There is one set of characteristics eyes follow instinctively... they're drawn to certain strong colours. Red in particular is a colour the brain sees, like many creatures in nature, as a warning."

"Okay... I'm sorry, but you lost me there," Shisui crossed his arms. "I kind of get you used a lot of feints, but it doesn't explain why I didn't _see_ you or couldn't react in time."

Naruto grinned at that. "Oh but it explains a lot about your sharingan... another characteristic of eyes is that they're attracted to fast movements and strong light."

"And what does our sharingan perceive as some sort of light that attracts them the most?" Itachi asked, titling his head to the side in amusement.

"Chakra!" Shisui answered with a huff. "All those attacks that threw me off were faster and had a lot of chakra in them, while the ones that hit me were slower with less chakra!"

Naruto whistled, "Well... there you go, you figured it out!"

Itachi was impressed, this fighting style was based on misdirection but to achieve it was no easy feat. The concept was simple, but the style itself was very complex. "It's very effective against us... or anyone with a doujutsu." He shook his head, "The better the eyes the easier you will fall to this style's flow, you make your opponent dance to your tune."

"Bingo!" Naruto laughed softly, then paused when he saw Itachi's inquiring glance. "Yes that's not all in it, there's three main elements in my fighting style. Two of them are under misdirection, while the third will explain my movement." He cleared his throat, "The second element is still about misdirection, but instead of drawing your attention with chakra and movement, I just non-verbally communicate through eye contact with you." Shisui raised an eyebrow at that. "I know there's a risk of getting caught in a genjutsu, but I have the privilege of a having partner who will solve that problem for me."

Shisui snorted at that. "Yeah right... as if I don't know you use twenty clones every day training in chakra disruption," he grumbled under his breath.

"It's another instinctive thing eyes do," he continued. "If someone looking you in the eye suddenly turns their attention away you look in the same direction instinctively, don't you?"

He recalled he did exactly that when Naruto suddenly turned his attention away from him. "Oh yeah... I did do that."

"It's a very easy thing for Naruto-kun to achieve, because our fighting style and eyes make us instinctively try to keep in eye contact with our opponent. He used that against us..." Itachi explained with an amused tone.

"And the part where you move like there's no gravity on you?" Shisui asked curiously. "Is it a gravity seal?"

Naruto shook his head and bent down to take off one of his jika-tabi (traditional Japanese socks), which reached just below his knees, revealing a seal underneath. The seal was not in a circular array but looked like a vine curved on both ends, glowing briefly with chakra before it disappeared. "This is **Hikou no Fuuin** (Seal of Flight), the principle is quite simple. You know that Akimichi clan technique that affects their body mass and density right? This seal doesn't go to the extreme level of the Akimichi clan, but… yeah, I kind of _float_ in the air when I move, kinda like swimming in the air. But still... I needed more than that to achieve that kind of movement, so I had to add wind element to this seal..." He took a deep breath, "It also allows me to do this." The seal glowed briefly and Naruto jumped, the Uchihas went wide-eyed when they saw him easily jump thirty feet into the air. His fall at first was fast, but it soon became as slow as a feather.

"Wow!"

"What do you think?" Naruto grinned, "Normally, it's hard to focus chakra in your legs, but now I can do it as easy as enhancing any part of my body!" He turned around. "This is actually a bonus I didn't expect, because shinobi who can't fly are usually left vulnerable in the air, but I can think of something good to cover that~"

Naruto had learned explaining with too much technical jargon wouldn't help them to understand better, even Itachi sometimes lost him if he went to too much into details. Shisui whistled, "You look like you're almost flying! It sounds complicated but I get what it does. You're getting better in simplifying your explanations, Naruto!" Shisui grinned.

He rolled his eyes at that, "I got these finished and tested a day after my birthday before I applied it on myself, and man... it works properly, but controlling it is a real pain in the ass," he muttered in a frustrated tone. "There were a couple of times my kage bunshins got carried away by wind..."

Shisui laughed at that, "Really? That must've been a sight to see! Man! I wish I could've seen that!"

The seal master snorted, "I bet you do." He shrugged, "I did put a control seal on it, but for some reason it only controls the level of seal power, and in the end, I still have to get used to it unless I want to lose complete control of my movement."

Itachi looked thoughtful at that, "This fighting style is complex, and since you're not a taijutsu expert... you're forced to think on every step, and I can see after fifteen minutes you get tired of it. You're frustrated..."

Naruto nodded in agreement at that, "So true... But once I finish developing this fighting style, I figure it will much more lethal, especially when I incorporate my kage bunshin. However..." He trailed off tiredly, "To perfect this fighting style I have to get used to it until it becomes second nature to me... there's _no_ way around it. Damn, I really need field experience..."

Shisui whistled at that, "Well... at this point, Hokage-sama will only assign you to C rank mission, and the toughest opponents you'll get in those kinds of missions are wild animals or bandits... or ronin _if_ you're lucky."

The seal master groaned at that, "If I wanted wild animals, I would go to training ground 44! And I doubt Hokage-sama will give me a mission that involves killing anytime soon. Capturing bandits is more probable, but still... "

Itachi shrugged nonchalantly at that, "You can worry about that later, but first..."

"Yeah?" Naruto wondered why Itachi looked so... enthusiastic, by Itachi's standard at least.

"It's my turn to spar with you," he pointed out helpfully with thinly veiled eagerness.

Naruto stared at his best friend, "Give me ten minutes to catch my breath." That glint in Itachi's eyes was a bit scary, because a curious Itachi was a dangerous Itachi.

* * *

The Namikaze clan was an offshoot of the Senjus, though they were not as well known as their main clan. Although at this point in time, you couldn't call the Namikazes a clan as even before Yondaime's death, it had been reduced to one little family. Namikaze Muramasa was Naruto's grandfather from his father's side, and apparently, apprenticed to the same teacher Hakurei and his late brother, Sagetsu, had. Throughout the generations, Namikaze was a clan of blacksmiths and formidable weapon users, but it was Naruto's grandfather, Namikaze Muramasa who started to incorporate fuuinjutsu in his blacksmithing. The man was known as the greatest blacksmith in his generation, powerful enough to fill the honored position as one of the Daimyo's twelve guardians when he was young.

Naruto was ecstatic when Hakurei indulged him of the tales of his old friend. Now that Aizen was off of his back, Hakurei could give him another piece of his heritage. Of course everything that had been told to him was a closely guarded secret, because it went against Sandaime's law. There was a loophole Naruto had discovered to protect his people in tower in case the secret was leaked, but Naruto would keep _it_ for now. He had to say, Uzumaki Mito-sama was an ingenious seal master, and she lived up to the Uzumaki's cunning trait to the core.

He was careful in asking Hakurei about his heritage as he didn't want to pressure the old man too much for his selfishness after all. He wanted to prove to Hakurei that he deserved that knowledge and wouldn't misuse it in spite of his young age. Hakurei was elected as the Seal division leader after Aizen's death. And much to Naruto's chagrin, Hakurei assured the young boy he was just a mere figurehead, that their division was united under Naruto-sama and that it would never change. When Naruto pointed out his inexperience and that he was recently graduated from apprenticeship, Hakurei waved off that concern because he was sure in few years Naruto would surpass him. The only thing Naruto could be grateful for from the whole division leader ordeal was that Hakurei would be the one who would deal with the paperwork.

Speaking of paperwork, Naruto was reminded about Shisui complaining about the paperwork he had to fill out to get his new ANBU ninjato, and how the logistics department had their hands full so needed a couple of weeks to process Shisui's request. Shisui had just recently been recruited to ANBU, a week before the incident with Aizen, and was really upset that he'd lost his ninjato one week after he received it. Apparently in ANBU, that ninjato was a set with a mask, uniform, and tattoo. The said ANBU set was the equivalent of a headband for normal Shinobi, a mark of baptism in their ranks.

Itachi didn't complain at all when the blacksmith informed him neither his nor Shisui's ninjato were repairable, but Naruto could tell he felt the same as Shisui about the loss. Naruto wanted to make it up to them; after all, they broke it when they were protecting him from Aizen. He had a perfect solution for that in mind, though Hakurei wouldn't be happy about it.

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

Sasuke had always been a curious little boy, and he, like any little brother, was curious about his big brother's life. Especially since his brother was a prodigal Shinobi who seemed capable of doing everything perfectly. It was understandable since he had just entered the Shinobi academy, the first step to getting closer to his brother. However, unlike what he thought of, the experience was not as novel or fun. Everyone seemed to expect him to be a mini-Itachi, but unfortunately, aside from their looks, he was not as talented as his brother. When Itachi was his age, his big brother had mastered his sharingan and graduated from academy. He had become a chuunin at age ten and been recruited to ANBU half a year later. That was a prodigious record he couldn't match.

So he couldn't help but notice that since last year Itachi had become more… cheerful? He didn't know the exact word to describe his brother's change in attitude, but he was not as aloof. Before he couldn't really be open with his brother about his feelings, especially since he had an inferiority complex and was envious towards his brother. It wasn't Itachi's fault, but Sasuke truly wished everyone around him to stopped looking at him as _just_ the little brother of Itachi, and as Sasuke instead.

Today, his class had tested accuracy and Sasuke as usual had managed to get the top score, hitting eight bull's-eyes out of the ten moving targets the academy instructors had set up. He wasn't proud that he hadn't gotten the target right on the mark for the last two, but he had been quite pleased he did better than the rest of his peers. At least, until he'd overheard his teacher saying Itachi had never missed when he'd been in the academy. He was very upset about it, because not even when he did his best did he escape his brother's shadow.

When Itachi asked why he looked so upset, Sasuke was in a daze and said his thoughts out loud. "Everyone is expecting me to be just like you." He quickly covered his mouth in a panic, but Itachi had heard it loud and clear.

Itachi frowned at that before he took a seat beside Sasuke. "I see… so you're upset because you're seen as my little brother but not Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I am proud to be your little brother, nii-san, it's just…"

"It's suffocating position to be in, isn't it?" Sasuke flinched at how bluntly Itachi phrased his situation. "Sasuke… you have your own path, while it's a big brother's job to be a role model for a little brother, it doesn't mean you will become me… everyone in the end grows up to be themselves and no one else."

Sasuke blinked owlishly, "But Nii-san, Tou-san always said that…"

"I guess it's a bit difficult for you to comprehend…" Itachi said as he ruffled Sasuke's black hair fondly, but at the look Sasuke shot him, Itachi quickly amended his words. "It's not because you're young or ignorant, but what I said is going against what everyone's told you." Sasuke titled his head to the side in confusion, his brother was being so difficult to understand today. "I cast such a big shadow over you, huh?" he muttered forlornly. "Hm… you see, a friend of mine saw you in the academy today."

"A friend?" Sasuke echoed, Itachi rarely talk about his friends to his family, if not at all. "A Shinobi? In the academy?"

Itachi titled his head to the side, "Hokage-sama asked him to deliver a document to the academy, and he saw your performance today in an accuracy test."

Sasuke blushed at that, "Uhm… you know? Your friend told you?" he stammered timidly.

The ANBU nodded, his lips curved up a little at the sight of his embarrassed brother. "He said my little brother looked very upset because those insensitive instructors were comparing us."

That was none of his business, Sasuke thought embarrassedly. "I'm not…"

"Well… he was pretty put off by how the instructors were being ignorant of your feelings, and how their teaching license should be revoked because they had no idea how to be attentive to their students," Itachi finished in amused tone. "And I seconded everything he said."

Sasuke stared at Itachi in disbelief, "Your friend is weird, Nii-san. Why would he feel disturbed by my teacher's attitude? In regards to me no less?"

Itachi just shrugged, "He just cares… and sometimes, I think he cares too much." Which was why Naruto was so miserable when a majority of villagers shunned him. It was harrowing to know that Naruto put so much effort into being indifferent to the villager's hatred of him. And even that effort was to protect his sanity, so he wouldn't hurt anyone.

* * *

**The Seal Tower**

Uzumaki was a clan of eccentrics, though coming from the Uchihas that was not an insult but rather a statement. Itachi at first was skeptical and thought it was his clan's bias against Senju and their distant relatives. Although later he found out from Naruto that the Uchiha clan had no room to talk, because apparently the Sage of Six Path's wife was an Uzumaki so actually both Uchiha and Senju were related to the Uzumakis.

Though this time, there was a sliver of truth in that. What else did you call a clan that put their freaking _hair_ inside a good luck charm instead of a paper prayer like normal people did? It was a pretty creepy tradition to Itachi who'd had a bad experience involving fangirls, presents, and hair. There was a reason why he burned all presents from his fangirls. The last time his mother convinced him to at least open one he found a passionate letter from a girl – he didn't even remember existed – confessing her love of him and a hand knitted sweater. Said sweater at first looked well-knitted and normal, but upon closer inspection, there were strands of hair _knitted_ together with the wool. That was the first time he followed the Uchiha's old motto, burn your enemy to death.

True, Uchiha was not one to talk about eccentrics and insanity since it ran in their family as well. Well, they _were_ related to Uzumaki.

According to Naruto, it was another tradition of the Uzumaki clan to not cut their hair, because it was an old belief that hair was closely affiliated with one's life force and energy. Which was true for the Uzumaki clan, the clan of vitality and longevity. Apparently, their fallen hair would turn to an ashen color and lose its luster, and medics said the hair, for some mysterious reason, couldn't be used for DNA tests or anything of the like. Uzumakis, however, could preserve their hair by channeling chakra in it, the same method Naruto used to leave trails like his mother did. It was said they wove hope and wish into their hair and used it as a good luck charm.

But still Naruto was always the one who came up with the craziest ideas, and the worse part? He was dedicated to _all_ of them, and won't stop until he see the end of it. Like now…

"This is unacceptable, Naruto-sama! Please reconsider!" Hakurei pleaded as he followed Naruto and his group to the lower lever of the tower.

Naruto sighed, "Hakurei-jiisan, we went over this already… I trust Itachi and Shisui and they have proven themselves in the skirmish with Aizen," he pointed out patiently.

Hakurei averted his eyes, "I acknowledge your approval, Naruto-sama, but it's not that simple! How would I explain this to Hiruzen-dono later?"

"Nah… it's not within his jurisdiction as Hokage, he'll ask questions, but that will risk _me_ asking back dangerous questions he doesn't want to answer," Naruto pointed out solemnly.

He couldn't refute that logic, his young master knew Sandaime well enough. Knowing the old kage, he would just put up with it like he always did. "As long as you know what you're doing… young master."

"I do," he assured the old seal master.

"And if you would please, _Naruto-sama_ , indulge this lowly Uchiha Shisui of what could possibly get us in trouble with Sandaime-sama?" Shisui asked playfully and impatiently. He'd been dragged from the lovely training ground to an underground level of the seal tower, and Naruto hadn't even told tell him why. It was not a lovely trip, damn it!

Naruto shuddered, "That's creepy, Shisui! Just follow me and you will find out yourself."

"You're a Shinobi, Shisui," Itachi reminded, "Be patient."

Shisui rolled his eyes, "Hn."

"And here I thought you were adopted..." Naruto grumbled under his breath the moment he heard the infamous grunt.

The older Uchiha snorted, "It seems the grunt is ever more believable than a blood test."

Naruto rolled his eyes at that. "We're here," he said as they stopped in front of an impressively massive door. It was not the shape of the material, in fact it looked like a normal door, but the sheer number of seals that were hazardously placed on the door gave it an eerie look. In short it looked cursed. Naruto placed his hand on the spiral looking device in the middle of the door, the spiral device folded like a fan, and a hole with diameter of an adult man opened on the door.

Itachi and Shisui looked at the hole in bewilderment, they had expected the door to open but not in such a fashion. They were snapped out of their musings when Naruto asked them to follow him. The Uchihas were greeted by the sight of what they thought was the most magnificent and largest armory they'd ever seen. No one could blame them gaping at the sight, for there was a numerous amount of shinobi weapons from standard kunai and shuriken, to fuma shuriken hanging on the shelves neatly. There was even ninja wire categorized by its material, chakra conductivity, and texture. Armors resembling the ones worn by Madara, the Shodai, and his brother (which they had only seen in history books) donned wooden mannequins. Itachi was sure that even the Uchiha's armory wasn't worth even half of this massive collection.

"Oi Itachi~ Shisui~" They were snapped out of their musings by Naruto's voice. "How long do you guys plan to space out?" The two Uchiha looked mildly embarrassed as they started walking to catch up with the blond jinchuuriki ahead of them. Shisui grinned at Naruto, "So your surprise is giving us a new sword?" he asked cheerfully.

Naruto titled his head to the side, "Hm... depends, do you feel anything yet?"

"Feel what?" Shisui wondered out loud.

"Eh... something like a quickening heartbeat or a foreign chakra trying to pull yours in," Naruto described hesitantly.

Shisui shook his head in a negative then turned to Itachi who did the same. "Nothing like that, Naruto-kun."

Naruto shrugged at that, "Well... that could be good or bad," he mused as they walked deeper into the depths of the armory.

Itachi hadn't noticed this before, but the path they walked was not flat but tilted at an angle, and recalling the route they had walked down, it was spiraling downward. The diameter of the tower was getting bigger as they walked on, too. The ANBU realized with fascination that the tower's blueprint must have looked like an upside down twister on elevation view, a Whirlpool, a whirlwind... Shisui snickered, no doubt he'd also noticed the tower's layout reference to Naruto's name. Naruto raised an eyebrow at them, but it seemed he was not curious enough to voice a query.

The ANBU stopped suddenly, Shisui looked around in confusion while Itachi looked equally alert. Much to their bewilderment both Naruto and Hakurei clapped at them, "Well... we didn't expect we'd have to go this deep for you to get a call." Hakurei muttered in a daze, "Young master, are you sure this is wise?"

Naruto nodded, "Absolutely... I told you I'd give anything that chose them, and I'm not going back on my word," he reminded the old seal master, then turned to his friends. "From here on, there's only one room left in armory section of the tower... so your swords must be waiting there for you," Naruto laughed softly, much to their confusion. "But man... we walk passed at least ten armory rooms, and none of those got any reaction out of either you… either you're both super lucky or not at all..."

"Can you explain?" Shisui demanded, "I have no idea what the hell you and Hakurei-dono are talking about."

"You're being too vague, Naruto-kun," Itachi chimed in.

Naruto just smiled wryly at them, "Oh believe me, I can't explain to you what's going to happen. But you have to know that after this, you'll either feel eternal gratitude to me, condemn me to hell, or a mix of both," He said as they stopped in front of another door.

If there was one word to describe it perfectly, it would be ominous. It looked very old and haunted, you could barely see the handle because the one who locked the door must have thought no one would want anything inside, thus explained the wrappings of the metal handle with a thick steel chain and lots of locks. Much to their shock, Naruto didn't use any key but started to pick the locks one by one, passing them to Hakurei who set them aside.

"Naruto," Itachi called him.

"Yeah?" Naruto hummed absentmindedly.

"You're picking locks in your own home." The Tower could be considered Naruto's home in a way. "Don't you have a key for these locks?"

Naruto nodded, "I do," he admitted. He had the spare keys to every room in the tower. "But do you have any idea of how _troublesome_ it'd be to find the key for each lock? These locks are at least half a century old, so it's rusty and some are stuck," he reasoned.

Shisui rolled his eyes at that, "Do you know 'troublesome' is like the Uchiha's hn to Nara?"

"Have they copyright that line?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I don't think so," Itachi supplied helpfully.

Naruto just laughed softly at that as he unlocked the last one with an audible click. The moment Naruto opened the old door, their nostril was invaded by smell of age, grassy notes with a tang of acids, a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness found in old books, and a very familiar smell for a fire-breathing clan like the Uchihas, ashes and fire. Though none of those things mattered the moment they stepped inside the old forgery and laid their eyes on IT.

Hakurei and Naruto noticed that the cousins were looking at opposite sides. Itachi looked on the left wall where a nodachi was hung, unsheathed so Itachi could see the gleaming blade. Its curve and cut were things of beauty. It was approximately five _shaku_ (equivalent to five feet) long with a bluish sheen on the blade that seemed more prominent than normal steel. His breath caught, it felt like the nodachi was trying to pull him in, and he could feel his chakra become erratic. Shisui felt the same as he looked at a katana on the right wall. The blade was shorter than the nodachi as it was only three shaku, but the ethereal beauty was equal.

"This is..." Shisui breathed out in awe.

Naruto smiled softly at the dazed Uchihas. "Aren't they bewitching works of art?" He voiced out their thoughts proudly. "I'm glad you found your match here. Many kenjutsu practitioners are granted permission to wander here, but not all of them are so lucky as to get a call from any blade that resides in this part of the tower..."

Itachi turned his attention to Naruto hesitantly. There must be something wrong with him to be so _reluctant_ to pry his eyes off of the nodachi. "These swords, they are..."

Hakurei nodded, "Sentient on some level, yes..." The old seal master answered in a solemn tone, "When a seal master who's crafted their work into the form of a weapon achieves the highest level, their weapons sometimes become sentient... it's a very rare occurrence," he sighed tiredly. "These blades are one of a kind, a legacy of my old friend." He shook his head, "When young master granted permission to you, I didn't expect for these two to call you out of the hundreds of blades we possess," he muttered in exasperation, rubbing his throbbing cranium.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "Well... it shouldn't be a problem," he said dismissively.

"Young master!" Hakurei warned him, "I won't mind in the slightest if they take any sword we have, but you should be aware of what this means if you give these swords away..."

He nodded sagely at that, "I know..." He walked to a pedestal in the center of the room and placed his hand on the seal carved on the top of it. "But I had a premonition the moment you brought me here..." he muttered softly as the chains that were holding both swords were pulled down to a reachable height. "It'd be a pity if we continued to keep them here to collect dust."

"Naruto..." Shisui called him, "I understand you want to give us some kind of badass sword, but if Hakurei thinks it's a bad idea..."

"It's not," Naruto huffed, "Now go ahead and take your sword."

They would have protested if Naruto had forced the ownership upon them, but since Naruto just asked them to take it off of its resting place... Itachi and Shisui sighed as they stepped forward and reached out to their respective sword. The moment they grasped the handle, both Uchihas cried out when they felt a foreign chakra crawl into their skin. They would have dropped the blades, but something made them unable to let go. The pain was quick and intense, leaving them dazed the moment it subsided.

Shisui was the first to find his voice, "What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed.

Hakurei sighed at the young shinobi, "It's just a playful bite of an introduction from them, it's normal."

"Then give us a freaking warning!" Shisui howled angrily.

Naruto just laughed at them as he handed Itachi a five shaku long sheath he took from a shelf nearby. "Here... I guess they gave you guys one hell of a playful bite, huh?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Let me guess," He muttered in exasperated tone as he sheathed the nodachi, "Now we can't return the sword, can we?"

The blond raised an eyebrow at that, "Well... if you can find a way to get rid of it, suuuuuuure~" Naruto droned mischievously.

Instant, Itachi had a very bad feeling. He quickly tested his theory by dropping the sword into Naruto's outstretched hands much to Hakurei's protest and moved away with a shunshin. The abandoned sword suddenly flung itself into his direction, and he was forced to catch it before it hit his cranium. Shisui gaped at the sight before he tried it himself. He threw the sword away and used shunshin to keep dodging the sword, but after a few close calls he caught the sword before it could hit where a man would feel pain the most.

"As long as you didn't put it away with intention to abandon the sword, they won't follow you stubbornly… "Naruto informed them helpfully, "And since they recognize your chakra now, they can find you better than Inuzuka could."

"Wow." Shisui mouthed, that wasn't too bad, and at least he didn't have to worry about losing this sword. While his new katana was cool and a bit clingy, his cousin on the other hand... Itachi would have a problem with his, since the sword was almost as tall as him. Why did Itachi end up with a freaking nodachi while he got a katana? At least he was taller than both his sword and Itachi's.

"Naruto-kun." Itachi crossed his arms, "While I appreciate the sword... I can't use it."

"Because it's as tall as you?" Shisui piped in not-so-helpfully.

Itachi's left eyebrow twitched at the comment, "Among other things..." he admitted reluctantly as he caressed the sheath of his sword. "This sword... may I know who forged it?" he asked curiously. Just from its sheen alone he could assume the forger must have been very skilled.

Hakurei sighed at the query, he knew it was coming. "An old comrade of mine... Muramasa."

Shisui and Itachi went wide eyed at that, "Mu... Muramasa, that Muramasa?! Satori no Muramasa?" He was the most famous blacksmith in the history of Konoha. He was like Hashirama of the Senju clan to the blacksmiths of Konoha. Itachi and Shisui, who were frequent customers of Munechika, had heard a lot about the legendary figure, because old man Munechika on his worse days was always raving about his idol. How Muramasa had been a saintly man but his swords had been demon incarnates and so on, especially Muramasa's Shiseiten, four heavenly sky swords: his masterpieces that were rumored to have surpassed even Kiri's seven swords.

Hakurei nodded at Shisui's sputter, sighing wearily. "I can't believe this... two of Muramasa's Shiseiten chose two Uchiha brats." Itachi and Shisui blanched at that. What they held weren't just two swords forged by a legendary blacksmith, but the best he'd ever forged too?!

"Hakurei!" Naruto warned, and Hakurei hastily muttered an apology. Then he turned his attention back to the Uchiha cousins. "Never mind... just take good care of them 'kay? By the way, Itachi's nodachi is named Tenrou..."

"Tenrou..." Itachi repeated, "Heavenly wolf, Sirius... the brightest star."

Naruto turned to Shisui, "Your katana is Shibien, the north pole star... "

Shisui tilted his head to the side, "So that's why they're called Shiseiten..."

"I didn't expect it though," Naruto mused, drawing their attention from their swords to him. "For Tenrou to choose Itachi while Shibien goes to Shisui... according to the forger's journal, Tenrou is a pretty temperamental sword while Shibien is much calmer, and yet they went for their opposites... well, maybe opposites do attract..."

Itachi swallowed, "I don't think you can just give these out as replacements for standard ANBU Ninjato, Naruto-kun," Itachi pointed out, slightly dazed at the preciousness of the sword he was holding.

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"These could be considered national treasures!" Shisui drawled in an incredulous tone. "I mean... is it really okay to give these swords just like that?! Can you give these to us?" he asked, looking at Naruto pointedly. "It's Satori no Muramasa's masterpieces!"

The blond looked thoroughly confused, "Eh, why can't I?"

Hakurei's eyes lit up in realization, "Oh I see your concern..." he mused. "I almost forgot that in the shinobi world... a title can become so well known that a person's real name is sometimes forgotten." He shook his head in amusement. "I'm pretty sure there are shinobi who've forgotten that the Sandaime was born as Sarutobi Hiruzen and not the Professor or God of Shinobi. Or that Satori no Muramasa's real name is... Namikaze Muramasa."

Itachi blinked as he recalled the photo of an old man Munechika had proudly showed him before, a man around his father's age, fair skinned, blond with cerulean blue eyes, and long, wavy hair that gave him an effeminate look. He had been wondering why the man looked familiar when he'd seen the photo, but it was no wonder since that man looked exactly like Namikaze Minato save for the shape of his eyes, which had a rounder edge than the Yondaime's. Muramasa was the Yondaime's father, which meant, he was Naruto's grandfather!

"Oh!" Shisui had come to the same conclusion it seemed. Then the curly haired Uchiha laughed out loud, then snapped. "They're your freaking family heirloom, Chibiiiii!"

Naruto blinked innocently at that before nodding sagely at that, "I guess they are... so? They're legitimately mine to give, aren't they? And if they chose you to be their master, they're yours to wield... I'd rather my family's legacy be in use than just sitting here and collecting dust in this old, abandoned chamber."

The Uchihas stiffened at that, realizing why Naruto was so eager to hand down the swords to them. He didn't want his grandfather's legacy to rust in the depth of the tower as a legend soon to be forgotten. For Naruto, the legacy of his family was important and he would go to great lengths to preserve it. Naruto sincerely wanted to give them the swords, not just out of friendship and obligation, but also because he believed they deserved Tenrou and Shibien, that they could wield the legend so it wouldn't die out and be buried under the dust of history.

"Once the news gets out this will be a bitch," Shisui pointed out grimly as he fastened the belt carrying Shibien on his back.

Naruto chuckled softly at that, "I'm well aware of that... they already know The Tower and the Uchiha clan are in some sort of alliance, so don't worry... I know what I'm doing."

"Naruto-sama..."

The blond smiled at the elder, "It's fine... if anything I think it will work in our favor."

Itachi sighed, "I wonder what scheme you're cooking up in your mind now..." he wondered out loud.

Naruto faked a hurt look at that statement, "Me? Scheming? Oh my, Itachi... do you think so lowly of me?" He shook his head, "While I did intend to give you one of my grandfather's swords, I had no idea which would choose you... I did have faith one of them would choose you, though for you to get the best of the best is even better!"

"I still don't see how legitimate it is to hand these legendary swords over to us," Itachi stated firmly. "I mean... while you're the heir, your status in our village..." he trailed off hesitantly.

Naruto waved his concern off, "You don't have to worry about that, since in official paperwork these swords belong to the tower unless Muramasa's heir, or his will, claim otherwise."

Hakurei sighed wearily, "Actually, about his will. As I informed Naruto-sama prior to your visit... Muramasa did leave a will concerning a debt and owing a pair of swords to the Uchiha clan..." he said as he pulled out an old looking scroll tied with a yellow string. "Pass this to your father. Apparently, the Uchiha Muramasa was indebted to passed away a long time ago, so I guess your father is the right person to read it."

The Uchiha heir accepted the scroll hesitantly, "Thank you, Hakurei-dono."

Hakurei nodded sagely, "While I haven't read the contents, I have a pretty good guess about it says..."

"By the way, you never elaborated on what kind of debt my grandfather owed the Uchiha clan," Naruto piped in. "From what you've told me, Muramasa-jiisan doesn't sound like the type who would leave such a massive debt uncovered."

"My old friend wouldn't... he's a man of his words, but well... he's also gotten into the strangest situations more often than not. A trouble magnet..." He shook his head in amusement,

Itachi and Shisui rolled their eyes at Naruto. "I guess that's hereditary," Shisui muttered.

The younger Uchiha recalled his mother had said the same thing about Naruto's mother after one of Kushina's disastrous visits to the Uchiha manor. "What an amazing thing, genetics that is..."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah..."

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

Fugaku wasn't sure if he should compliment Minato's son or smack the boy upside the head for the latest stunt he'd pulled. His eldest son had come home in a daze with a five shaku long nodachi and a scroll addressed to him, his nephew not far behind with a katana on his back. When he'd read the scroll, Fugaku had felt the beginnings of a throbbing headache coming on. Mikoto had looked worried, but it hadn't stopped her from stealing a couple of glances at Itachi's and Shisui's new swords. Mikoto had been a kenjutsu master before she'd retired after all, so it must've been hard to resist looking at the famous swords of Muramasa.

Fugaku didn't know much about his uncle, but he did remember that Muramasa was regarded as a weirdo even by shinobi standards. Minato's mother died when he was two years old, and people said Murasama became a bit weird in the head afterward. Fugaku didn't really understand what was so weird about Muramasa as, at the time, he was nine when he started training with his four-year-old second cousin. Although as Fugaku grew up, he started to realize his uncle was an eccentric man. Muramasa was nocturnal, and it was a wonder how Minato didn't end up the same. He let his son play with real swords, and Fugaku was almost killed by Minato at the tender age of ten. Muramasa spoke to his bird, cat and dog like he could understand them. With such an impressive list of oddities that could book him a room in a mental ward, it was a wonder how that man could raise a genius like Minato for fifteen years before dying of a terminal illness.

This scroll was undoubtedly his uncle's. It was a will concerning an unpaid debt of Muramasa's, not to the Uchiha clan exactly, but to Muramasa wife's twin older brothers. Apparently, Muramasa had had a hard time convincing Uchiha Mayumi's older brothers to bless their marriage, which was understandable since Muramasa was of Senju line and Mayumi was their only baby sister. Their parents had been long dead, so the twins were very protective of Mayumi. Muramasa promised Mayumi's brother that he would forge the best pair of swords in the elemental countries for them as a proof of his worth for Mayumi's hand. Unfortunately, the twins fell in the second war before Muramasa finished the promised swords, and in the end, Muramasa married Mayumi with the blessing her twin brothers left in their will.

In some ways, you could say there was no debt that needed to be paid, especially since the brothers Muramasa was indebted to were long dead before the he finished the swords. But officially, Muramasa had left a will stating the debt still existed, and he wanted his descendant to pass it on. This contract was so like his uncle, Fugaku was sure he'd made it so he could rest peacefully in the afterlife. Muramasa must've expected Minato to take two random swords from his old shelves and hand them over to the Uchiha clan, even though he could have done it himself when he was alive. Regardless of the possibility that the existence of the scroll was done on a whim, it worked in their favor because it was never specified which swords had to be given as payment. Just a pair of swords to the Uchiha clan, end of discussion.

No one could protest Itachi's and Shisui's ownership of the two legendary swords.

But there must've be some sort of ploy behind this. That old man Hakurei was Muramasa's best friend, and he would have rather handed over his own chopped hand than give up Muramasa's best swords. "Itachi... Shisui, did Hakurei-dono give these swords to you with no underhanded intention?"

Itachi shook his head in negative, "No father, Hakurei-dono wouldn't have given us these swords 'if' he'd had any say about it."

Shisui nodded in agreement, "Eh... it was Naruto."

Of course. He wondered if Naruto was getting too confident after the latest stunt he pulled, thinking he could get away with another one. But then again, he got away with this one too. "Warn him to not keep playing with fire, he is too young for..."

Itachi, in a rare moment, cut his father off, "I believe you misunderstand him, Tou-san..."

Fugaku frowned, "Explain."

He nodded, "While what Naruto did could be considered careless and too brave, he didn't do it because he could." Itachi stated firmly, "But because he had to... when Naruto-kun suggested that surveillance system to gain our clan's cooperation, he did it because it would help both the tower and our clan. Even this time I believe he didn't do it on whim... it's for our alliance."

"He intends to gain more favor from us?" Fugaku inquired, not that he minded if that was what Naruto wanted. Minato was a kind and gentle Hokage, but he was a shrewd politician as well. If his son inherited that from Minato, Fugaku couldn't see that as anything but a blessing.

Itachi shook his head, "Our alliance is seen as weak, merely to show a united front: a temporary alliance... But with these gifts... it will be seen as a show of good will for a long time partnership from the tower."

"And possession of two of Muramasa's shiseiten will raise our standing in the eyes of Konoha..." Fugaku concluded in a solemn tone. "An admirable move... I will write a formal letter to thank that boy, though I will address it to Hakurei..." The clan head mused.

Itachi stiffened, he always disliked it when his father talked as if the village and the Uchiha clan were separate entities. "Yes..." Though he couldn't refute it when both sides distanced themselves. He vowed that one way or another, he'd change their clan, and one day they would see they were a part of Konoha. Naruto had given him time to stall the worst, but he had no delusions that decades of hatred his clan had for their forced isolation could be erased so easily. The tower had given the Uchiha clan a breather from the role as a wounded animal Konoha had cornered. There was no telling how long that allusion would last however...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naruto's scroll of seal~
> 
> (1) Iwazaru no Fuuin  
> derived from the three wise monkeys (Japanese: 三猿, san'en or sanzaru, or 三匹の猿, sanbiki no saru, literally "three monkeys"), sometimes called the three mystic apes, are a pictorial maxim. Together they embody the proverbial principle to "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil.  
> In case my dear reader forget, this is the cursed seal that prevent ROOT member from talking about Danzo to outsider.
> 
> (2) Hikou no Fuuin  
> Naruto's newest masterpiece, a complex A rank seal that incorporate elemental seal and body enhancement seal. The seal array resemble a wavy vine, and placed in Naruto's legs. When used it affected user's body mass and created small gust of wind surrounding user body and float the user to certain extend. It also gave assist the user to gather chakra on the feet which were the hardest part of body to gather chakra, which allowed Naruto to jump extremely high and other properties of the seal make his aerial time longer than normal, that he looked like he was almost flying. While this seal was strong it was very hard to control and one wrong move could cripple the user.
> 
> (3) Gogyō no Juujika-Fuuin
> 
> Shape manipulation seal that ranked as C rank after upgraded from specialized on one element to five elements. This seal is derived from Katon: Housenka no Jutsu and Futon: Shinkuujin, which basic principle is coating weapon with elemental chakra. The chakra this seal shaped in disk or cross shaped in shuriken.
> 
> Basically Naruto's fighting style is combination of Kuroko's Tetsuya phantom play + Aomine's agility + Kagami's jumping power for those who read Kuroko no Basket. This fighting style works better for those with doujutsu but as long as the opponent is not blind they're going to have a hard time. When I develop it I think of something that fit unpredictable and free spirited nature of Naruto but in the same time 'refined and subtle' which differ this Naruto with canon Naruto.
> 
> Tenrou and Shibien are pretty famous sword, at least I see Shibien in a lot of games... but they're based on what appeared in Samurai Deeper Kyo.
> 
> There's three characters I wrote in this chapter as politician... one is Sandaime, in the latest chapter Hiruzen himself admitted he did a lot of mistake and he is too soft to deal with Konoha's darkness which is why he 'let' Danzo to handle it. I am not biased against Sandaime, he is a badass old man and I acknowledge that. However he had a lot of shortcoming in his reign, Naruto's suffering, Hyuuga incident and Uchiha massacre for example. Then again this old man probably is too tired and weary, seriously... he should have tried looking for someone else to be Godaime the moment Minato passed away not taking the hat again. As for hiding Naruto's heritage, I can already imagine Sandaime at first has no intention to reveal his jinchuuriki status. However words get around and instead of trying to bullshit his way like a ninja should do he announce it to adults and make it S rank secret. Then again who knows what circumstances forced him to do so but it's still a foolish mistake.
> 
> Danzo... OH Danzo... My opinion of him is basically what Naruto said, the old man lost it. While he did everything he could for Konoha's interest at one point he seems to go nutz, the boundary between Konoha's interest and his is blurring and in the end for the sake of Konoha he had to be the Hokage mindset. As you can see what happened to Kabuto and his mother, Nagato and Akatsuki. Good job Danzo, you might as well destroy Konoha yourselves... but probably that what he wants, remake Konoha.
> 
> Fugaku, in Itachi's flashback is revealed as 'not completely a jerk' father. He cares of his sons, but he is harsh and demands the best of the best from them. Then again they have to be, considering their status as heir of Uchiha clan especially with their decline in power. I try to take realistic approach in his character, he cares for his family and Naruto but before he is a father and uncle he is a clan head. He has duty to the clan. His clan members are already as peeved as it is with their decline in power, in canon they outright voiced this when Fugaku tried to cover up Itachi's absence. The coup from what I see is the will of the clan, not necessarily Fugaku's... In case majority of his clan voted for coup Fugaku as clan head could only go along, regardless of his opinion. Clan head is not dictator position in case anyone forgot... Hiashi is a testament of that, his clan or rather their elders decided to sacrifice Hizashi not him. SO yeah... massacre is not out of option yet.


	10. Missing Pieces of History

** 10th Legacy: Missing Pieces of History **

**We stand here together. Uchiha, Uzumaki... Senju… why couldn't the sons of Rikudo Sennin do the same? Is the title of heir that important? That they destroyed everything their father had worked so hard for?  
** Uchiha Shisui

 **"There's no point in wishing for history that has been set on stone to change."**  
Uchiha Itachi

 **"We still have a future ahead within our hands, ours to decide…"**  
Uzumaki Naruto

* * *

**Konoha**

Naruto was on the way back to the tower, choosing an unconventional route that only a small body like his could take. Usually he could care less of the stares and whispered insults that had trailed him like a plague since he was young, and he opted to just run whenever it happened. But he is still aware whenever he gets stared at, especially when it seems like someone no less skilled than a jounin or ANBU was following him this time. It was really hard to throw them off of him, he tried being subtle with it by laying false trails and doubling back whenever possible, but they were really good, even Itachi and Shisui sometimes had a hard time following him. If there was one thing he was as good at as Fuuinjutsu it would be stealth, a skill born out of a twisted longing to play tag at a time when only his ANBU guards were available as playmates. He didn't even have to ask them to play; he _made_ them play with him, chasing him through the village after a good old prank that would end in getting him a reprimand from Tori or the Hokage. That was one childish attitude he was both grateful and ashamed of.

He didn't know if his stalkers knew he was aware of being followed, but if they did they didn't show it. Only, this was starting to get annoying, and he wanted them off of his back now. It was almost hilarious how even a seasoned ninja fell to his unconventional strategies, all it took was a detour to his favorite training ground and him making a ridiculous number of kage bunshin that enshrouded the clearing in chakra smoke. The kage bunshin then split up in four groups, following their training routine as usual. It didn't take long for four black blurs to silently follow each group, unaware of a small insignificant pebble that was left in the empty clearing. After a long while a small puff of smoke appeared and in place of the pebble was one Uzumaki Naruto, rubbing the back of his head.

His eyes narrowed at the lush forest where his kage bunshins and stalkers had disappeared to. _'What is Danzou planning? This is the third time I noticed his puppets following me this week.'_ Then again according to Hakurei's Intel that man was getting more and more restless by the recent developments between The Tower and Uchiha Clan. _'Well, the grudge he has against us is legendary, second only to Kurama's against Madara."_

Danzou viewed The Tower as a threat because they still held love for the fallen Uzushiogakure, and as for the Uchiha...

**The Tower, Naruto's living room**

"He still holds a grudge against Tou-san it seems..." Shisui muttered in between chewing dango they had for afternoon snacks in Naruto's place. "Seriously~ Tou-san has already been dead for ten years..."

"Kagami-jisan was a direct subordinate of Nidaime-sama, wasn't he?" Itachi didn't really know Shisui's father, his father's older cousin who fell in the third Shinobi war. War had not been kind for Kagami who was a close comrade of the Nidaime's students and Danzou. He was married pretty late even by shinobi standards to a medic-nin ten years younger when he was in his forties. And when Kagami passed away, he was only two years old. Shisui had been loved dearly by his father, the youngest child he had when he was in his fifties. Shisui had been devastated when he lost both his father and brother to war.

Shisui nodded, "Danzou was his ex-teammate."

Naruto frowned at that, "Hm... from what Hakurei told me, Danzou seems to loathe the Uchiha." He shook his head, "Not exactly loathing, but it's more like he's under the impression that your clan is going to be Konoha's downfall... a sick branch of Konoha's tree that he has to prune." Naruto didn't miss how Itachi and Shisui stiffened for a moment before they regained their composure.

The Shunshin expert groaned at that, "That old cripple seems to take Konoha's tree metaphor too literally."

"For one... Konoha is not a tree." Naruto agreed, "Just because one branch grows the wrong direction or have sick leaves, doesn't mean you can just cut it off for the rest of the tree to be kept healthy." For one, the pruned part wasn't a human who could fight back and swear vengeance. He tilted his head to the side, "But still, what kind of grudge does he have against your father Shisui?"

The curly haired Uchiha rubbed the back of his head, "Eh... I was four when he passed away, but according to kaa-san it has something to do with Tou-san supporting Sandaime-sama instead of Danzou."

Itachi frowned at that, "It couldn't be that simple..."

"Eh... who knows? According to Hakurei, Sandaime-sama was appointed as the next Hokage when he volunteered to be bait when Kumo ninjas cornered Nidaime-sama and their teams." Naruto drawled in solemn tone. "Apparently Danzou was going to offer the same thing but Sandaime-sama beat him to it." That was a gross summary of what happened according to Hakurei, but Naruto hoped Danzou didn't really believe he would have been picked if he had offered to be the bait before the Sandaime did.

Itachi and Shisui stared at him with unreadable expression while Naruto raised an eyebrow in silent query, "How true is that information?"

"It's a gross summary... I don't know how much Hakurei glossed over, and I am not sure anyone involved in that event went into details about it, especially since the Nidaime _passed away_ after that." Naruto pointed out in lofty tone. "But still... there must be a connection, the Niidaime, the Sandaime, Danzou, the Uchiha clan..."

The Uchihas nodded thoughtfully at that, at a first glance the Nidaime seemed to despise the Uchiha but if he kept Uchiha Kagami as one of his closest subordinates that was not the case. Compared to his compassionate brother, the Nidaime was known to be a straight-laced realist, the very opposite of the Shodaime. But more than anything, he was known for being evenhanded, a fair hokage to his subjects even to members of his clan. Hakurei told him that once a Senju and an Uchiha fought and the Senju was killed. A further investigation pointed that the Uchiha was fighting in self-defense and the deceased Senju was the one in the wrong. The Nidaime didn't even bat an eye and refused the deceased Senju's family request to execute the Uchiha or punish more than what was stated in the law for a murder that was actually committed in self-defense.

But what could drive such a great man to isolate the Uchiha? Well not exactly isolating them, but he made sure that he had them under surveillance, treated so carefully as if he wanted to prevent something. That was their conclusion of Nidaime's political agenda, which was missing one vital piece of the puzzle. What ticked the Nidaime off to the point that he went to such lengths that even a softhearted Sandaime followed his example? It couldn't be a grudge from their family feud and not for Madara's betrayal because the clan itself had refused to follow him. It scared Naruto sometimes that the more he knew about Tobirama; the better he understood the pragmatic kage. One part of his mind was wary that he would agree to Tobirama's reasons to put Uchiha clan in their current position.

"There must be something..." Itachi murmured. "That makes Senju Tobirama to be so wary of our clan..."

"Aside from the fact that Madara and his brother had been on each other's throats since… forever?" Shisui added in bored tone, "He was fond of my father from what I heard. What makes my father different than the rest of our clan?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "There are too many missing puzzle pieces." He concluded. "Well… we'll find out soon enough."

* * *

**Hekiga no Kuni (Country of Murals)**

_Year 1923 After Rikudo Sennin_ __  
The Senju clan moved to this land, a strategic position as it was close enough to Tetsu no Kuni (Land of Iron) and Itami no Mori (Forest of Pain) We're building this stronghold in preparation of war against Uchiha Ichizoku, which has allied themselves to the Hagoromo clan.  
Our allies… 

Naruto frowned, "No… not this one either." He murmured dejectedly, though it didn't stop him from writing down what's written in his notebook. At the rate they were going, by the time this is over he would have completed a full record of the warring clans era. They couldn't afford more time for this, he had his duties to the tower and his friends had their duty to their clan. He couldn't have them escorting him for missions too often; the Uchiha clan's pride won't allow that. It helps that most missions are confidential as long as the participating team didn't spill, but there's no guarantee someone wouldn't poke their nose and spread rumors Uchiha prodigies were tasked for jinchuuriki babysitting now. But the Hokage wasn't going to trust him to a random shinobi team, especially since Danzou's agents could be anywhere.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the mural, "We won't get much information from warring clans era it seems."

"Yeah, our ancestors are too busy butchering each other." Shisui quipped. "The reason to do so wouldn't be far from continuing Rikudo Sennin's sons scuffle over his heirs' status."

The blond jinchuuriki sighed wearily; this was the fourth historical site they visited this month alone in between missions. It ran them ragged at this rate, finishing C rank missions as soon as possible so they could take a detour to historical sites such as Hekiga no Kuni. Itachi himself had explored most sites that were located around Konoha since he became genin, but so far he had only found details in the history of Konoha's birth. Strangely the vital point in Konoha's history, Madara's betrayal wasn't mentioned anywhere beyond the fact that it was a disagreement with Hashirama that led to the battle in the Valley of The End. It seemed that whatever may have happened back then, no one wanted to remember it.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, craning his neck to the side. "Oh well… it seems we either have to go to the more recent records or the oldest ones that record the era of Rikudo Sennin's sons."

"Do the records from that era even exist?" Shisui asked skeptically, "… does the Kyuubi know?"

"I doubt it." Naruto answered after a beat, "According to Kurama, after his father's death… he and other bijuu split up and avoided both Senju and Uchiha descendants… our ancestors." His eyes narrowed in sadness, "To them… it's a disgrace that the sons fought and started a war that continued to their descendants for centuries, when their father wished for peace…"

Itachi clenched his fist, "They're right on that…" He couldn't help but sympathize with the bijuu now; their ancestors had ruined the peace Rikudo Sennin built. And Hashirama gave them out as peace offerings to stabilize the power balance for a temporary peace, one that had already been broken three times.

Shisui nodded in agreement, "And yet now…we stand here together. Uchiha, Uzumaki... Senju… why couldn't the sons of Rikudo Sennin do the same? Is the title of heir that important? That they destroyed everything their father had worked so hard for?" He wondered out loud. "If only they had…"

Itachi stepped forward; his hand hovered above the mural. "There's no point in wishing for history that has been set on stone to change." Itachi murmured as he traced the carving of the mural.

"We still have a future ahead within our hands, ours to decide…" Naruto reminded them, clenching his fist.

Shisui grinned at that, "You're right…" He agreed, "But still…" He trailed off, eyeing the mural of long war between Senju and Uchiha. "The present would've been much better if only war never existed."

"You're not the only one who thinks so Shisui." Naruto murmured forlornly, "I do too…"

"So do I…" Itachi added as the scene of Third war's end replayed on his mind, funeral after funeral, burying empty graves because there's no resource to retrieve the bodies, crying families over precious ones that would never return, more names carved in memorial stone. It was a scene of tragedy that was carved forever on his mind.

* * *

There was a reason why he grew his own vegetables, fruits and spices. It was so he didn't have to deal with shopkeepers who more often that not overcharge or sell goods that almost gone bad. And this year he doesn't even do his groceries himself, decreasing his already nonexistent presence to the villagers to nil. So much that there's even rumors circulating that he had died in a ditch somewhere. Hokage-sama had even come and asked Hakurei to keep him in the tower a few weeks ago, since apparently some idiots thought it was time to celebrate his supposed 'death'. Hakurei was furious, but Naruto ordered him to leave them be. He had better things to be worried about than idiotic villagers celebrating his death.

The villagers were really pissed when they eventually saw him a few days later walking through the streets, breathing and alive. As usual, glares and whispers trailed after him, some of them seemed ready to throw the nearest object they could grab at him. They were apparently furious that their wishes didn't come true. It was almost ironic that in reality they should thankful he was alive; if Konoha were to suddenly lose their jinchuuriki it would the same as giving out an open invitation for invasion. Kusagakure, a once a major power in the Shinobi world could attest to that. At some point they lost their jinchuuriki and were invaded by four hidden villages, reduced to the small village they were now and lost Nanabi to Takigakure.

Then again shinobi business was not for civilians.

He paused when he saw a black haired boy around five years old staring at the rows of colorful plastic masks that were being displayed in front of a toyshop, more precisely the ANBU hound mask. Looking at the old yellowing shirt he wore, Naruto guessed that it was either his family was so poor or this boy was an orphan. The boy definitely had no money to buy that toy mask.

Speaking of toys he barely remembered the last time he ever thought of wanting one, it felt like a long time ago. Now, with his Shinobi status and mentality, he couldn't comprehend a child's need for toys. Or why it was fun to play with one. The boy looked really pitiful, and looking at what he wore it was doubtful the boy had even enough money for food.

He walked closer towards the child, standing beside the younger boy. The child turned to him, looking at his blue eyes curiously. "You want that mask?" Naruto asked, pointing at the plastic ANBU mask.

The boy's eyes glowed with hope, and Naruto felt something warm spread on his chest. "Uhm!" He nodded vigorously at the blond.

Naruto had just pulled his wallet out of his pocket when he had to raise his left arm to catch the mask the shop owner threw at him. "What are you doing, all of a sudden?" He asked incredulously.

The shop owner then fumed, "Get out of here bastard! I'll give that mask to you, so get lost!"

Naruto glanced at the young child beside him, the boy looked confused and frightened the shop owner suddenly blew up like that. Then he sighed, his eyes glanced at the price tag on the shelves. Naruto placed a couple of notes on nearby table and dropped the mask to the boy's waiting hand. "Here…" He glanced at the fuming shop owner, "Keep the change sir…"

"Thank you…" The boy breathed out and Naruto gave the boy a curt nod of acknowledgement.

Then he walked away, and not even once did he look back. He heard the shop owner lecturing the boy to stay away from him, and that he was a bad influence on a child. The kid was obviously confused and asked why a bad person would pay for his toy mask. It was amusing to hear the shop owner sputter incoherently in his explanation and insist the 'demon brat' was bad, and that's it. It was not the first time hostile adults had a difficulty explaining why children should stay away from him. Children were curious creatures by default, and whenever an adult forbids them from doing something it was an automatic response to ask 'why not'? Before it was not hard to explain because he was a notorious prankster, but since he stopped his pranks because of his busy schedule, they couldn't use that excuse anymore.

Naruto hoped they would stop trying to influence their children to hate him, or encouraging those kids to bully him. While he could defend himself easily, he was more worried of their children's behavior. Bully mentality was flourishing in younger generations because of their parent's ignorance or rather encouragement. He was not concerned at all before but it started to bother him since few weeks ago.

_Flashback_

_Naruto whipped his head to the side when he was walking through the park, carrying a bag of groceries on one hand after a shopping trip with Yuzuriha. The female seal master followed her young master's gaze, her eyes narrowed at the sight of three girls bullying another that was curled up to a ball on the ground. The bullied girl had pink hair like petal of cherry blossoms, an unusual color, Yuzuriha thought._

_Naruto clenched his fist, "Yuzuriha." He whispered. "Help that girl."_

_The scarf wearing kunoichi smiled then bowed, "Yes Naruto-sama." Then she jumped away towards the scene._

_Naruto shook his head ruefully, he would never get used to treating his subordinates as subordinates. But arguing with them about it just makes them sad._

_Sakura was frightened, why were these girls so mean to her? She just had a wide forehead, an unusual hair color, and reads a lot, do those justify their actions to bully her? She never did anything wrong to them! Sakura was snapped out of her miserable thoughts when an older girl landed beside her gracefully, the teen didn't wear a forehead protector but from her posture alone Sakura could tell she was a kunoichi._

_In instant Sakura forgot about her bullies, and stared at the cool kunoichi in awe. The kunoichi had a long sandy blond hair that styled in ponytail, flowing down all the way to her waist. Beautiful face with exotic feature, and fair skin wrapped in sleeveless pink kimono that parted to expose chest and stomach that wrapped with thick white bandage, white shorts and standard shinobi shoes._

_"Wow..." She mouthed in admiration._

_The bullies were also awed, but stiffened when they saw the pretty kunoichi was glaring at them. "What?" Ami, the bravest one of the bullies asked._

_Yuzuriha crossed her arms, "Are you students of Ninja Academy?" She asked coolly, looking at the bully and then to Sakura, at their hesitant nod she glared harder at the bullies. "As future kunoichi, it's frowned upon to bully your future comrades." She stated solemnly._

_Ami cowered, "I am just..."_

_"Ami-chan!" The afro haired girl called out warningly, she was scared of the kunoichi._

_"Bullying a helpless girl? Ganging up on her?" Yuzuriha added ruefully, "Girls, keep this in mind. If you still want to be a kunoichi, learn to respect your peers and you will earn yours. What you did would just earn you a reputation as a bully..."_

_"Hey! Leave my child alone!" A blue haired woman yelled as she walked towards the group, fuming as she did so._

_Yuzuriha turned around to the direction of the angry voice, and she saw a mother that resembles the blue haired girl called Ami. "Good afternoon ma'am, I have no ill intention towards your daughter but she was bullying this girl." She gestured towards Sakura who at some point had cowered behind Yuzuriha's legs like a frightened rabbit._

_The mother paled when she saw Sakura had bruises, teary eyes, and dirty after her daughter pushed her to the ground. "Ami-chan bullied her?"_

_Ami opened her mouth to protest but Yuzuriha cut her off, "Yes ma'am, and as a kunoichi I deemed it prudent for me to warn your daughter as she is a student of academy. That's not how a kunoichi candidate should behave."_

_"But, well..."It was obvious the mother was trying to pacify the kunoichi, thinking it was her who should chastise her daughter._

_"This girl is also a student of academy, it worries me that she treated her fellow student that way..." Yuzuriha stated coolly, "The Academy is not a civilian school ma'am, they teach children to be shinobi..." Yuzuriha reminded the mother, it was not hard to guess she was a civilian judging from her chakra level. It was irritating, that nowadays some civilian family sign up their children to the academy without thinking about the consequences, and more often than not they were clueless of what they signed up their children for. "I am afraid if I didn't give your daughter a warning now the consequences would be dire in the future."_

_The mother looked dejected a teenager like Yuzuriha chastised her daughter, but she knew better than talking back a kunoichi. "I understand, but they're kids... and..."_

_She leaned in conspiratorially towards the frightened mother, and whispered to her ear. "Believe me... I have seen my share of bullies who ended up killed in missions because they were hated by their comrades. Trust me ma'am, if your daughter manages to graduate from the academy I doubt she will survive her first real mission with that attitude."_

_Yuzuriha leaned back to her full height, looking at the mother who just realized the horror of her ignorance. "Ami-chan!" She turned towards her daughter who flinched at her angry mother. "Apologize to Sakura-chan." The kunoichi raised an eyebrow, so the mother knew the bullied girl then? Yuzuriha thought as the mother started to chastise her daughter about how her behavior had been wrong._

_Ami began to cry then much to their surprise as she yelled at her mother, "But you let Nii-chan do it to that blond kid in academy! Why can't I! Not fair!" Ami was seven when she saw her parents let her older brother to bully that boy everyone disliked, why she was chastised for doing the same to Sakura? Everyone disliked her for being a teacher's pet!_

_The Kunoichi gasped at that, it didn't take a genius to guess who the blond kid Ami was talking about. "I see..." It seemed The Tower didn't have to give enough retribution to these hateful parents who corrupted their children to ostracize Naruto-sama. They had paid the price._

_The mother looked at the kunoichi in panic, afraid that she would report it to Hokage. "I..."_

* * *

Present

Naruto sighed at the memory, if he didn't know better he would feel guilty. He wondered if he should bring this up to Hokage-sama, it seemed small at first but at this rate those hateful parents were going to drive their children to the wrong path. Then again he couldn't be the one who told Hokage, the old shinobi already took a lot of guilt tripping from Hakurei recently. Hakurei had taken pleasure in rubbing in how 'properly' he was now treated in the tower to the Hokage, how he flourished as a talented seal master and so on. Hakurei didn't have to be sneaky about it, he just have to praise Naruto like the proud grandfather he was and that was enough to drive the Sandaime to the wall.

While Naruto was thinking about future generation's fate and how to bring it to Hokage's attention _,_ a pink haired girl walked past him, she was also recalling the same incident from last week, though with a very different perspective. After all, the girl was a 'normal' eight year old girl…

* * *

_Yuzuriha shook her head, "Don't worry... let us part ways now, but don't forget my warning ma'am. You'll regret it if you do..." It was a warning and not a threat, after all it was them who called it upon themselves. She didn't wait for an answer as she led the little girl she saved away from the bully and her mother, "Come on girl... let's sit near that fountain, I will fix you in a jiffy."_

_Sakura obeyed and followed her heroine, "Um!" The kunoichi then asked her to sit on a bench, cleaned the bruise, and then used cool green chakra to heal her bruised knee. "Wow... so cool."_

_The sandy blond haired seal master winked at the younger girl, "You'll be able to do this too one day. Train your body hard, train your heart to its fullest... never give up and you'll see your path as a Kunoichi."_

_She bobbed her head enthusiastically, "Hai!"_

_"Yuzuriha..." A familiar voice called out for her. Sakura turned around, her eyes were wide when he saw a blond boy dressed in traditional attire under the shadow of lush foliage. She couldn't see his face, but there was this regal air about him. He looked very young but from this distance she couldn't tell how old he was. "It's time to go back to the tower."_

_"Yes, young master..." Yuzuriha answered promptly._

_Sakura blinked when she saw a light blush on the kunoichi's cheek, so her name was Yuzuriha? Young master! So that blond boy was a prince, Yuzuriha was working as his kunoichi! Her respect and admiration to Yuzuriha had gone up a notch, if not two. Yuzuriha was like kunoichi she read from book, pretty, cool, strong, charismatic and... Sakura looked at Yuzuriha's figure that wrapped in bandages. She had such a great figure too! Sakura was just eight but she once asked her mother if the pink haired little girl would look as pretty as her mother. Girls would start to grow their curve when they're preteens, and Sakura always dreamed to be a graceful and pretty kunoichi like Yuzuriha._

_"Sakura-chan." Yuzuriha crouched down in front of her, "I need to go now." She nodded at that, "Bye bye..."_

_"Bye..." She waved the retreating Kunoichi back in a daze. Since then Sakura vowed she would be a cool kunoichi like Yuzuriha._

* * *

**ROOT HQ**

Uzumaki Naruto, the child of two S rank class shinobi and the sole heir of the Uzumaki clan. Not exactly sole, but from the Intel he gathered it was very likely Uzumaki Naruto was the only one left of the main line of the Uzumaki. A child brimming with potential and yet he was severely neglected. Danzou had seen how other villages trained their weapons to draw the full potential of their jinchuuriki, with Kumo as the most zealous one with Iwa followed closely behind. He wouldn't worry of Iwa jinchuuriki, since according to what his spies in Iwa had gathered, their jinchuuriki would rather let Iwa hang themselves unless Onoki himself dragged them out under the threat of death. The jinchuuriki of Kumo in the other hand were fiercely loyal to their village, and had full control of their bijuu.

Konoha's jinchuuriki on the other hand was not even aware of his status, isolated, scorned and neglected. Suna's jinchuuriki might be an unstable child but Sabaku no Gaara at least knew _what_ he was, and the Kazekage had a somewhat firm hold on his leash. Sarutobi in the other hand just threw that child to foolish villagers who had no idea who they had scorned and how much it could endanger Konoha, it was a sheer miracle that child hadn't ran away from Konoha or worse, became mentally unstable like the Ichibi no Jinchuuriki. Danzou had thought Hiruzen had at last come to his senses and paid attention to their jinchuuriki's education. But instead of molding that child as Konoha's weapon he put that child in The Tower of all places and under the tutelage of a traitor. That place was pampering the jinchuuriki with adoration the young child craves, and in Danzou's book that was a foolish move. They couldn't have a pampered prince as Konoha's weapon, and one attached to a division that was formed from Uzu's refugees no less.

If that's not enough, the jinchuuriki had formed bonds with Uchiha Itachi and his cousin Shisui. His spies had seen how attached the boy was to his Uchiha friends, to the point Hakurei was willing to give Muramasa's Shiseiten to them. The heir of the Uchiha clan and Kagami's son, he didn't know where their loyalties lie but there's nothing good being associated with a traitorous clan that could threaten their village.

However that was not an immediate concern for now, not as much as how Hiruzen and The Tower pampered the jinchuuriki. Hiruzen had been very reluctant to give the promotion to the boy, and Uzumaki Naruto had become the youngest promoted chuunin since Hatake Kakashi. He had seen missions that Hiruzen had put aside for that child, all C-ranked and above missions with relatively low risk were given to the boy. If Uzumaki Naruto could survive Aizen that child should be able to handle high-risk missions. That boy was a weapon not a grandchild he should shelter and pamper.

He had read reports of the physiological examination his men could scrap from what little they had seen from the boy when the jinchuuriki was out of the tower (which was off limits for his men thanks to the damned wards they put up) to train with his Uchiha friends. The boy was extremely paranoid, almost borderline unhealthy but at least he could approve of that. The training grounds the boy usually used was the closest to The Tower and was heavily warded against intruders whenever he used it, one that even his best spies hadn't found a way to crack without alerting the boy. Personality wise from what he had heard the boy who once was a troublemaker now had became a sweet child, or so Koharu claims. However she also noted that the boy was calm, perceptive, and very polite. The boy was humble when convincing Hiruzen and his teammates to promote him, but he didn't sell himself short either. What he was good and bad at were delivered professionally to them, and not even Hiruzen could deny that the boy deserved that promotion.

The Uzumaki's seal work was topnotch like any Uzumaki should. From their observation of the way the boy walked and moved he must be quite proficient in taijutsu. The boy was a chakra powerhouse so he had potential as a ninjutsu specialist, while not so much for genjutsu probably. But in overall if the boy could achieve that much at eight and without a mentor in the ninja arts other than fuuinjutsu… if Hiruzen listened to him at least once about training the boy to his fullest potential…

What a waste…

It seems once again as the root that supports Konoha from underground, he had to make his move. It was all for Konoha.

* * *

**Koishi no Kuni (Country of Pebbles)**

The Uchiha built quite a number of strongholds during the warring clans era like Senju did. The fortress they visited in this country was one of those. They had found a journal left by Uchiha Tajima, supposedly the father of Madara and the clan head before him. For a short moment they thought they had hit the jackpot, only to be disappointed that all Tajima wrote in his journal was about the war with the Senju and how much he hated the self-righteous clan. Naruto had to say this man was undoubtedly Madara's father, judging from how anything Senju-related in his journals painted the clan in the worst light possible. Sometimes Naruto wondered if the Uchiha clan could even remember that they were related to their archenemy.

Shisui was pretty depressed that they didn't come any closer to the answers they seek, just the revelation that he had another crackpot ancestor other than Madara. Naruto and Itachi told him to shut up, they knew this was another dead end and didn't need Shisui to point out that was another relative to be listed as 'driven mad by the rivalry with the Senju' which was made up by the majority of Uchiha elders.

"However, we found out that Madara befriended the Shodaime when he was around Itachi's age…" Naruto murmured when he read one entry that for once was about his son Madara rather than cursing Senju Butsuma to hell and back. "He found out and followed Madara with Izuna to the meeting place…"

Shisui nodded at that, "Madara was surprisingly late in awakening his sharingan, or at least by clan standards awakening it at twelve is average…" He noted thoughtfully, "Something to do with the mercenary lifestyle of that era probably?" The shunshin expert wondered out loud.

"Hn." Itachi grunted, "But it's strange… why Uchiha Tajima noted the awakening of Madara's sharingan is something worthwhile from that clash between his sons with Senju Butsuma's?"

Naruto blinked owlishly at that, "Probably because the fight pushed Madara to his limits that caused him to awaken his sharingan?"

The Uchiha's scion shook his head, "That couldn't be the case… if you look at previous entries." Itachi carefully flipped the old journal to his desired page. "Uchiha Tajima explained each battle he had with Senju Butsuma in great detail, but in this entry…" Itachi opened the previous entry they read. "He and his rival… their sons… their fight was very brief, they barely exchanged blows."

"Is it possible to awaken our sharingan without being under a stressful condition like in battle?" Shisui wondered out loud, "I remember awakening mine when I was eleven… a bandit almost got a lucky strike on me and my teammate with his giant axe…"

Naruto turned to Itachi curiously, "How about you Itachi?"

Itachi looked hesitant for a moment before he confessed, "I was seven… a few months after I graduated I took my brother for a walk in a park. A nin-ken infected by rabies suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tried to attack me and my brother…" Itachi shifted slightly, "And I activated my sharingan for the first time…"

Naruto shot the Uchiha an apologetic look for reminding him of a particularly unpleasant memory. He sighed wearily, "Ah… so both of you were in dangerous situations when you activated it, same case for the rest of your clan?"

Shisui nodded at that, "Yeah… some crazy parents even tried to scare their kids during the war period in hopes that they get their Sharingan to work early."

Itachi frowned at that, "My father stopped them after one of the parents almost endangered their son's life, I recall…" His father was really furious that time, while Fugaku valued power, as a father he couldn't pardon someone who almost drowned their six year old boy for it.

The curly haired Uchiha nodded at that, "Yeah…"

The jinchuuriki frowned, war or not they shouldn't be _that_ desperate. "Does it work though?" He asked curiously.

Shisui snorted, "That was the unfunny part of the folly, it didn't work at all… the kids were scared shirtless by their parents and needs therapy, but no fancy eyes of ours."

"How come though?" Naruto wondered out loud, "From Madara's case and yours I was under the impression that as long as you're under stress it doesn't really matter what causes it…" He informed them. "It seems that it's not how it works."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at that, "So there must have been a wrong preconception in how we awaken our doujutsu."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully at that, "Not exactly wrong if majority of your clan believes and affirms that's how they got it." He pointed out thoughtfully. "Maybe there's something more to it…"

Shisui crossed his arms. "By the way… how about Byakugan then? There are rumors that the Sharingan is derived from the Hyuuga's Byakugan, though our clan vehemently denies it."

The jinchuuriki laughed softly at that, "As if! I have asked Hakurei, he said someone spread that rumor long time ago to spark a conflict between the Hyuuga and Uchiha but Niidaime-sama stepped in before it got anywhere." He informed them in solemn tone. "Besides… the Sharingan is too diverse in its abilities to be derived from the Byakugan." Naruto pointed out, "The Byakugan focuses in enhancing eyesight such as telescoping, wide field of vision and see through abilities." He listed on, "It makes more sense to think it came from the same ancestor rather than a mutation of another..."

"But if that's the case the Hyuuga would have been with the Uchiha, fighting against the Senju clan." Itachi pointed out. "As of now we're not even in the best terms with the Hyuuga."

Naruto nodded at that, "In that case they might not be related at all, besides… Byakugan is a doujutsu that they have since they were born unlike the Sharingan, which needs to awaken…" He licked his lips, "I have asked Kurama about the Rinnegan, and he didn't know much about it either… but probably both Sharingan and Byakugan are derived from it."

"In looks alone though, the Uchihas look closely related to the Senju." Shisui noted loftily.

The jinchuuriki frowned at that, "Eh… as in?"

"Bone structure, eye colors which are dominantly black, grey or brown, dominantly dark hair with a grey sheen like mine or blue like my brother's, sometimes light brown or white…" Itachi listed on in solemn tone. "The Hyuuga have dominantly straight solid black hair or dark brown… and their eyes are white and not as narrow as ours."

He blinked owlishly, "I see… well, we're all descended from one man…" He trailed off, "By the way, why does the Senju not have a distinct bloodline?"

Itachi shrugged, "They were born with the "body" of the Sage, inheriting their forefather's strength of will and physical energy." He quoted from history records that describe the descendants of the Rikudo Sennin's second son. "Does that count as a bloodline?"

"In that case no wonder there's a misconception that the Uzumaki is an offshoot of theirs and not the other way around." Naruto muttered thoughtfully. "But still… isn't it pretty weird that the Shodaime is the only one with the Mokuton and healing properties? Those are very much like a bloodline… but he was the only Senju who had it."

Shisui shrugged, "Mutation?" He guessed.

"If that's the case, shouldn't at least one his descendants be recorded to have it? At least the watered down version?" Naruto pointed out, rolling his eyes. "Maybe all Senju have the potential but no clue how to activate it?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "True… but they've been Shinobi as long as our clan, it doesn't make sense that only one of them managed to awaken it."

"Well… there's nothing we can do about it since Tsunade-sama is the only one left and she is traveling as the legendary sucker all over the world gambling like mad…" Shisui pointed out.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he closed Uchiha Tajima's journal, "It's been bothering me for a while but can you tell me…"

"Tell you what?" Shisui asked curiously.

"Why there's no Senju clan left in Konoha? Or at least have the surname aside from Tsunade-hime?" He wondered out loud. "Shouldn't they should be comparable in size with the Uchiha when Shodaime founded Konoha?"

Silence hung heavily in the air as the Uchihas processed what Naruto told them. Shisui grimaced as he found his voice, "True… what the hell happened to them? I mean… when I entered academy at six, no one in my class is a Senju."

Itachi nodded at that, "None in mine either even though I attended for less than two years…"

"There're some civilians in our clan, maybe that's the case with Senju?" Shisui guessed.

His cousin frowned at that, "And none of them are involved in being Shinobi anymore? In the very Shinobi village they founded no less?"

Shisui grimaced, "True… that doesn't make sense."

Naruto groaned, "Damn… more mysteries instead of answers, I should have asked Hakurei…"

"Speaking of which… this is the tenth historical site for the last three months." Shisui pointed out with a sigh, "So far we're getting nowhere aside from Naruto probably almost completing a history book of warring clans era…"

The jinchuuriki flushed a deep red, "Give it a rest! At any rate we can't give up now!"

"Should we recheck murals around Konoha?" Itachi suggested. "I might have missed something when I checked it, I was eight after all…"

Shisui snorted at that, "Won't it be funny if the records we have been trying so hard to find was in Konoha all along? Or better yet in the Uchiha compound no less?! Somewhere as cliché as under the tatami mats of the Naka shrine perhaps?!" He laughed out loud, holding his aching side.

"Shisui…" Naruto and Itachi face-palmed at his antics.

If only they knew what lies in the main hall of the Naka shrine, beneath the seventh tatami mat from the far right… They probably would be really pissed.

* * *

Up on a cliff two Shinobi donning Konoha's ANBU masks observed the three chuunin that emerged from the exit of an abandoned Uchiha stronghold. They saw the curly haired Uchiha known as Shunshin no Shisui comment about Naruto's paranoia of setting up privacy seals and warding seals even though they were in the middle of nowhere, and no one would be interested in their conversation. The jinchuuriki argued that Shinobi couldn't be too careful, so please shut up and don't bring it up now. While their research was harmless, who knows if someone would get a wrong idea if they heard it? The Uchiha prodigy they were informed as the son of Uchiha Fugaku agreed with the jinchuuriki, and suggested to make a stop in a tea house ten miles from their current location. Shunshin no Shisui shook his head as he told his cousin that was a geezer's hobby. The jinchuuriki sighed and agreed they could go there as the Uchiha's heir wished, and if he heard one more comment about old men he would throttle the Shunshin expert.

The pale dark haired boy under the mask frowned at the display, the three of them were hailed as prodigies, and yet they bantered like kids their age. He heard his surrogate brother let out a soft chuckle, probably amused by the their antics. He shot his brother a glare to keep quiet or they would be discovered, somehow it got through in spite of the mask and the white haired boy just gave him a thumbs up.

Naruto who was walking between Itachi and Shisui frowned a little, they were being followed and by someone good no less. He wouldn't have noticed them if not for the kage-bunshin he scattered all over the perimeter that henged as bugs and other inconspicuous animals in the forest. His expression was carefully blank but inside he was cursing their bad luck.  
He tried his best to not show that he noticed, forcing his body to relax and walking as if nothing was amiss. He was sure Shisui and Itachi noticed too, as they kept the bantering going. To outsiders it was normal, but to them it was unusual to be so chatty in the middle of the road. He opened his map, pretending to note the location of Itachi's favorite teahouse, which was in the same direction to Konoha. What he was really trying to do was actually to look for strategic locations where they were likely to be ambushed by these stalkers.

He felt like he wanted to cry when he saw there was a canyon ahead, one with a very narrow path no less. It was very likely they were outnumbered too; direct confrontation was definitely out of question. Naruto took a deep breath, "The dango in that place is pretty famous, isn't it?" Naruto asked as he quickly folded the map, rubbing his eyes as a cue to Itachi and Shisui to activate their sharingan.

"Yes, the green tea flavored one is especially good." Shisui chimed in, his sharingan blazing briefly as he and Itachi caught Naruto absentmindedly waving his forefinger, writing character for 'run' and 'outnumbered'

Itachi nodded, "I prefer the sesame one though…"

It took them around ten minutes to reach the narrow path, on the left side was river with fast current and since it had been raining lately it was on the verge of flooding while on the right was a cliff. Naruto and his team were still chatting, Naruto was laughing at a joke Shisui made while Itachi looked as stoic as ever. Their observers were in higher ground, watching them silently with cold eyes underneath their ANBU's masks. One of the masked Shinobi made a sequence of hand seals, rabbit - boar –rat- horse-tiger -snake and whispered, " **Doton:** **Doryūkatsu** -Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide!"

They barely jumped away in time when the ground underneath them was split in two. Naruto growled as he threw seal enhanced shuriken to the first masked Shinobi he saw. " **Futon no Juujika-Fuuin** (Wind Element Cross Seal)"

Shisui and Itachi threw their shuriken, which were just one second behind Naruto's " **Katon no Juujika-Fuuin** (Fire Element Cross Seal)"

 **"Nenshou Arashi no Jutsu** (Burning storm technique) **!"** Wind and fire element collided and formed a tornado of fire that consumed everything on its path.

The three Shinobi landed gracefully on the ground, watching the fire dissipate, leaving dark scorching marks on the ground. "Did we get them?" Shisui asked.

"Well…" Naruto trailed off before his eyes narrowed instinctively and he brought his elbow up sharply without warning, blocking the incoming punch from a masked Shinobi on his left. "Who the hell are you?" He hissed threateningly.

The jinchuuriki was sure that if not for the mask he would have seen a sneer underneath, "How naïve." The masked Shinobi murmured, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw a glint of steel from his right and his kunai clashed with a tanto of his second opponent.

On the corner of his eyes Naruto saw both Itachi and Shisui were engaged by two masked-Shinobi. All of them were wearing the same Konoha ANBU mask. Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously at the tip-less tanto he blocked with his kunai and then at the short, black, midriff jacket, with red straps over the shoulders that he saw underneath the black cloak they wore.

They were locked, surrounded and outnumbered what a shitty situation, Naruto concluded. The jinchuuriki smirked at his opponents, "Naïve?" He laughed softly, "Not us, you are!" He shouted as his body slowly disintegrated.

"Bunshin Daibakuha no Jutsu?" The ANBU gasped.

"Sayonara." The clone grinned cheerfully.

**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

* * *

Three miles from the explosion, on the other side of the canyon, the real Naruto cursed loudly. He fell few steps behind Itachi and Shisui, but neither of them stopped to question Naruto what bothered him. If anything, that was a cue for them to move faster. "Shit! Of all things that could attack us here…" He recalled the memory he got from kage-bunshins he used to throw their pursuers off of their track.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "I assume you know the identity of our pursuers?"

Naruto nodded, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "Hakurei showed me their uniform and weapons before, it can't be anyone else but ROOT members." Itachi and Shisui winced at the information. "I recognize that tip-less tanto of theirs, and I doubt anyone would impersonate an _officially_ disbanded branch of Konoha's ANBU!"

"What would they want from us?" Shisui wondered out loud, swinging from one branch to another branch.

Naruto scowled as he jerked his thumb to his chest, "Jinchuuriki." Then he pointed at Itachi and Shisui. "Uchihas with matured sharingan." He groaned, "Is there a need to ask?"

"Is Danzou out of his mind?" Shisui shouted in horror, "We're not nobody orphans no one would miss! The clan and The Tower would demand his head on a silver platter if he dares to touch us!"

"Who knows? He dispatched two squads back there and I doubt my bunshin-daibakuha got them all! We're not out of danger yet!"

Itachi scowled, his sharingan blazing with fury. "We're not alone anymore…"

Shisui nodded, making a ram seal as he scanned their surrounding. "Uh oh… I think you didn't get anyone out of the game, the two three men cells are alive, kicking, and gaining on us. On the front there's two teams too!"

The jinchuuriki growled, "Like hell I'll let them to surround us from both sides!" Naruto took a slip of paper with a seal array written on it, charging it with chakra as much as he could then threw it to the ground ten feet away from him. " **G** **ome Jimen Fuuin** (Sticky Ground Seal) activate!" The seal array glowed when it touched the ground then burned out by Naruto's immense chakra.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the ground that affected by the seal, he could see it with his doujutsu and noted the range was at least sixty feet in diameter and the ground was brimming with chakra. Had it been someone else who pumped that much chakra, they would have collapsed because of chakra exhaustion. "How much chakra did you use on that seal Naruto-kun?"

Naruto snorted, "Enough to make anyone who steps on it unable to move from the waist down." Further improvement in that seal affected chakra that was used by Shinobi to stick not just in their soles but also their waists with more chakra. Tree climbing needed focusing chakra on their feet, but they also need to use circulated chakra evenly on other body parts to stand upright so they could walk normally. This was the reason why beginners were told to run instead of walking to reduce risk of back injury. "Unless they have small chakra pools or figured out how to cut off chakra from their feet, they would be stuck for at least ten minutes."

"Nasty." Shisui commented gleefully. "Now, how should we engage the ones in front of us? We will reach them in five minutes."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "No matter how we see it, we're outnumbered… and they knew us while we don't know them at all."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "True, this is a battle we should escape from… there's no point fighting them."

"However it seems they're not going to let us go that easily…" Itachi murmured.

Shisui narrowed his eyes, "Oh my… one of them is pretty good with suppressing chakra, I didn't notice him until we got this close." Itachi and Naruto frowned at that, "He was going to attack us from above, this guy has means to fly it seems."

"Aerial attack." Naruto groaned, "Great, it's getting harder to escape."

"They're coming." Shisui warned them.

High above a monochrome colored bird hovered above the three Shinobi, the rider of the bird unrolled his scroll and drew five small birds. " **Ninpou: Choujuu Giga**." The birds were animated out of the paper and flew straight to their targets below.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he spun around, as expected the guy who was up there would attack first. " **Hikou no Fuuin** , seal of flight… activate." The seal on Naruto's leg glowed briefly as he jumped.

The ROOT member didn't expect Naruto to suddenly jump the moment his birds flew out of his scroll, not to mention the jump reached him who was flying at least forty feet in the air. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it. The ANBU's eyes widened as he quickly jumped away from his ride and drew another one as he fell; wincing slightly as he landed on another bird while the previous one was blown up by an explosive tag.

Naruto knew that unlike the ink bird rider he was not really flying and he couldn't keep his seal activated unless he wanted to be blown away by wind; especially in this place where the wind was pretty strong and the fact that it's going to rain soon. As he slowly descended back to the ground Naruto grinned at the ink technique user. "If I can't fight in the sky, so will you!" Naruto shouted as a chain sprung from his back and grabbed the bird by its neck, dragging it to the ground so fast that the ink user had no time to draw another bird to escape.

"Sai!" A grey haired ROOT caught the boy before he could crash, while his bird splattered as an ink blot on the ground.

Naruto blinked at the two in confusion. That was unexpected, he thought they were conditioned to be emotionless but this guy who saved 'Sai' was definitely worried for the boy. Perhaps they had not gone through the worse, that they're still in a stage of 'growing up as brothers' but in that case, why were they sent out for this mission then?

He was snapped out of his musings as he blocked a tanto from cutting down his arm with his kunai, "Che, I can't believe your master wasted this much of manpower for us!" He gritted out.

Itachi and Shisui were still engaged in their fight, handling two to three opponents at once. Naruto himself was handling three, that Sai boy, Sai's brother and another ROOT member in goat mask. Using his kage-bunshin he could avoid being outnumbered by his opponents, but it didn't matter much if it only takes one hit to dispel them. There was also one more concern of his, if possible he didn't want to permanently harm that Sai boy or his brother. If he was right, that boy's ability is actually… he shook his head, they had to find a chance to get away soon before their opponent exhausts them, unlike him Itachi and Shisui had a weak stamina. At least weaker compared to his, which comes from his status as a jinchuuriki and Uzumaki.

Ten clones of Naruto threw another barrage of nenshou-shuriken powered by a wind elemental seal, Sai and his brother got away with riding another ink bird but the last member didn't ask for assistance from Sai and went for a defensive earth element technique, " **Doton: Doryuuheki!"** A massive wall made or earth erupted, colliding with the barrage of wind elemental shuriken. It cut through the wall swiftly, but missed the target. Naruto frowned and ordered his clones to repeat their attack, and the goat masked ANBU was quickly exhausted by his series of earth barrier techniques. The earth user was on the verge of exhaustion and he only had enough for one technique left.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the goat masked ANBU made a series of hand seals for an offensive earth technique, "Are you mad?! We're in a on top of a cliff!" And they're very close to the edge to boot, after using so much doton the ground must be really loose by now. If he used an offensive Doton, the ground around them would collapse!

 **"Doton: Dochūbaku (landslide)"** The root member whispered and the ground beneath them collapsed together with him who exhausted all his chakra for the technique.

Itachi and Shisui who were slightly farther, right outside of the technique's range cursed. That bastard was going to drag Naruto with him! He was their target since the beginning! "You bastard!" Shisui cursed, "Itachi!"

Itachi didn't need to be told as he pulled a long ninja wire with a kunai tied on the end, then he threw it in Naruto's direction. Naruto was about to grab the kunai handle but the wire was swiftly cut by a small bird made of ink. Itachi's eyes widened, "Naruto-kun!"

His clones dispelled one by one, Naruto had no choice but to jump using his Hikou no Fuuin. There was a risk of getting blown away but he could worry about that later. He jumped high in the air and barely missed the ROOT brothers who flew on his left, "Eh? What are you…?" Naruto didn't have time to defend himself when Sai suddenly splashed him with ink. "What the?!" Naruto yelped when the ink suddenly came alive and tried to strangle him with their snake like body.

 **"Ninpou: Sumi Nagashi (Ink splash)"** Sai whispered.

Naruto found himself suspended in the midair, bound by Sai's snake ink that connected to his inkwell. "Let me go, you… "

The boy beside Sai grinned under his mask, "Don't trash around so much, Sai's Sumi Nagashi is not going to break with brute strength."

Naruto scowled at that as he tried to rip off the ink snake that restrained his leg, surprisingly it could stretch like rubber and when he snapped the ink snake they easily reformed around the him, making struggling pointless. "Ugh!"

Itachi and Shisui gritted their teeth as they watched Naruto being carried away by them, Shisui formed a dragon seal. "Shisui! If you attack them you'll harm Naruto too!" Itachi warned.

Shisui scowled, "Shit." The ROOT members they fought had fled, Danzou didn't want anything to do with them it seemed.

Shin looked down at the blond boy struggled and had to say he was impressed a boy that was even younger than Sai could rip it off in the first place. He had seen adult Shinobi didn't even able to pull it off. "Wow…"

"As expected of an Uzumaki, they have brute strength." Sai commented in solemn tone.

Naruto glared at the two brothers, "You're going to carry me _like_ this to your leader?" Dangling thirty feet in the air like a fish caught in net?

Sai nodded, "We were told you're some sort of prince in The Tower, my apologies if the ride is uncomfortable." He said in sardonic tone.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, he noted Itachi and Shisui were following them closely on the ground and they were moving deeper to the canyon. ROOT had a hideout somewhere around here perhaps? "What do you want from me anyway?" Naruto wondered out loud, crossing his arms as if it was a sign he gave up struggling.

"Sorry I can't tell you." It seemed the older brother was chattier than the younger, Naruto noted. They weren't as bad as Hakurei said, even though he couldn't see their faces Naruto could see they still have feelings unlike the full-pledged members of ROOT. They probably had no idea what Danzou had in store for them in a few years, or maybe even months. But like any member of ROOT, they were obedient to Danzou.

"Just stay still Uzumaki." The younger boy intoned. "And nii-san, stop talking with our target."

"Sorry." Shin muttered in sheepish tone.

Naruto sighed, it seemed he wouldn't get anything out of them for sure. "You know what? Your apology for this uncomfortable ride is accepted." Naruto said in genial tone. "But..."

The brothers blinked at that, confused at how their prisoner acted. "What?"

Naruto smiled at them, one that caught them off guard. "Why don't you have a taste of your own medicine?" Naruto asked with a smile.

 **Seiyaku no Kusari!** (Chains of pledge)

Chains sprouted from Naruto's back and shot towards Shin and Sai. Sai and his brother couldn't move as the chain wrapped around their legs, torso and neck and the bird they rode stopped midflight. "Ugh!"

The jinchuuriki sighed, "Now you know how unpleasant my position is, now… Let me go!" He ordered coldly as the chain tightened its hold on Sai, and the ink user winced. He was not going to hurt them, just scare them a little, and force Sai to take them back to the ground. Other ROOT members probably were waiting for them, they probably thought their precious cargo would have been transported safely. Not his original plan but it would do.

"No." Sai muttered stubbornly.

"That was not a request." Naruto hissed threateningly as the tip of his chain traveled up and tapped their masks. "Let me go or else." Unlike his mother's chain, the tip of his chain was not shaped like blade of kunai but tomoe like Uchiha's sharingan. He at first wondered why it shaped that way, but that probably the only thing that differed his chain from his mother's. It was sharp enough to pierce human's flesh however.

This time Sai didn't bother to dignify him with an answer. Naruto narrowed his eyes, it seemed they didn't believe he would carry out his threat. Did he really have to injure them? Shin gasped when the tomoe shaped blade pierced and shattered their masks. He could be careless of his but he saw that sharp blade of chakra was just a hair breath from Sai's forehead, and there was a thin trail of blood on Sai's face.

Shin glared at Naruto murderously, "You!"

"I am serious." Naruto gritted out, "Unlike your brother who could only restrain me with his technique, my chains on the other hand could really kill you…" He muttered to the grey haired boy. "And I am pretty sure your master wants me alive, so you can't kill me."

His breath hitched when he saw the tomoe blades were on their neck, but it was Sai who he was worried about. "Let my brother go!" He snapped.

"If he lets me go first." Naruto snapped back. He had no intention to harm them, but he couldn't let himself be captured by Danzou.

Itachi and Shisui watched the three arguing Shinobi in horror, at some point Sai's ink bird had descend to a much lower altitude. In fact Naruto and his capturers were below them now, and under them was a ravine. They didn't worry much about falling, that ROOT boy could fly with his ink animals and Naruto had his chains.

"What should we do?" Shisui asked worriedly.

Itachi narrowed his eyes then pointed at another chain of Naruto that sneakily reached out to their direction. "We're going to…" His eyes widened when he spotted a ROOT member watching the same scene from the cliff across theirs.

**"Futon!"**

Itachi hissed, **"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"**

At that moment Itachi desperately wished he had been a wind natured Shinobi instead of fire, because even though his fireball hit the wind user ANBU who had no means to defend from the fire elemental attack, the wind elemental attack was faster than his and unleashed upon the three defenseless Shinobi.

Naruto's eyes widened when his attention was drawn by what happened above them, Itachi unleashed a fireball at someone who unleashed a **Futon: Daitoppa** (great breakthrough) at their direction. At this distance they were going to be blown away to who knows where!

"Naruto-kun!" Itachi yelled as he and Shisui walked down the cliff to help their friend.

"UWAAA!"

But Naruto was already hit by the wind elemental attack with full force, along with Sai and Shin whose ride dispersed in ink by the attack. The gust was so strong that Itachi and Shisui was almost blown away if not for their quick wit to hide behind a large rock to protect themselves from the gust. The moment the attack subsided they found no trace of Naruto or the ROOT brothers.

Itachi and Shisui looked around in faint hope that Naruto managed to use his chains to save himself, but it seemed that Naruto was totally caught off guard by that wind elemental attack. Itachi clenched his fist, his blunt nail dug to his palm to the point it drew blood. "Let's go find Naruto." He drawled to Shisui who looked equally furious. "I doubt they want him dead, they were this careless probably because they want to bet on his jinchuuriki's regenerative ability…"

Shisui gritted his teeth, "So what if he is a jinchuuriki? They think he didn't feel pain if he is hurt? And what of the two kids they blew away with him?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes; sharingan came to life as its tomoes spun. "I doubt they cared…" Itachi hissed in anger, "And after I am done with them, emotionless or not I will make them regret this…" No one should dare touch his friend, his brother. No one!

Had Itachi seen his reflection on the water puddle nearby he would have noticed that his eyes had gained their third tomoes. But at this point he didn't care, his friend was in danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He he... bet you didn't expect Sai and Shin LOL, I already planned for them to appear sometime soon...
> 
> As for Naruto's chain, the tip is shaped like tomoe is more or less... because he is one fourth Uchiha even though he didn't have sharingan.As for fight scene with ROOT, sorry it kind of rushed and I am sure you're disappointed that Naruto just throwing seals around. In case you forget, this is ROOT Naruto faced, they're stronger and more skilled... Naruto pretty much throw as much as destruction he could to avoid direct confrontation. This is another fight he is not ready for... but don't worry in next chapter he will be in ready or else situation. It's getting bloody soon...
> 
> Spoiler from manga: As revealed in manga recently how sharingan activated and why they're cursed, at this point Naruto and his friends is trying to find out about this. It's funny that Tobirama and Hashirama, Senjus know what's going on Uchiha's head while the clan itself seems to be oblivious of it.  
> In case anyone forgot, Butsuma is Senju brother's dad.
> 
> BTW the bullying mentality problem is inspired by Lucilia's Corrupted, a short yet awesome fic about how parents drive their children to the wrong path. ^^  
> Some reviewers express how Naruto just couldn't not hate Konoha and so on, believe me... Naruto repeatedly say he is no saint. He just have 'better' things to do and move on with his life. If you ask him about revenge to idiot villagers he will say something along this line "Sorry, I am busy with my life too much to care about them."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As requested by Halcyon Monarch, Naruto's stats.
> 
> This is not a solid stats yet but I think it will suffice...  
> Nin: 2  
> He is not bad in ninjutsu but he is only good in variety of Kage-bunshin, henge, kawarimi and wind element technique, and that because he overload everything with chakra. Typical of Naruto. So his slow score is because in this department he has small pool of techniques and I plan to keep it that way... quality over quantity.  
> Tai: 2.5, Str:3, Speed:2  
> While his style is unorthodox and unpredictable, his advantage over his opponent is because he surprise them... and he is not experienced enough.  
> He is fast but it's because of Hikou no Fuuin, naturally he has more strength than speed at this point.  
> Gen: 1  
> Dunno how to grade this department, Naruto would never specialize in this thing... he is better at breaking out of them though. His teammates are specialists in this so he would prefer other kind of skill to support them.  
> Int: 4  
> Naruto is smart... though it seems some readers misunderstood that I make him book smart type like Sakura because he tend to read a lot. In the first few chapters Naruto pretty much work his ass off and jammed everything he could get his hands on to his head... he is very young so it's easier for him to learn compared to his canon self. He also the type who think on the fly like canon Naruto when it comes in battle, which is ironic considering his paranoia...  
> Stamina:4  
> He is an Uzumaki and jinchuuriki, so no surprise here.  
> Hand Seals: 3  
> He is not bad at this but not at Itachi's level... though this is one area he would improve at.  
> Fuuin: 4.5 (4-Dan)  
> At least in overall skill this is one department he is the best at... Seal master in my story use the same system calligraphy uses, kyu/dan (beginner/master) ranking system that's used in other traditional Japanese art forms, such as martial arts. The highest is 9-Dan for seal master... so he is halfway to there already.  
> The stats is about how good he use seal in battle while the seal master rank is gained through test, it doesn't matter how good the seal he produce, he still have to go through the test one by one... It's a thesis kind of test which involve loads of research. For comparison it's like alchemist' research in Fullmetal Alchemist they have to submit periodically.  
> Kenjutsu: 2.5  
> He just started learning this, and the reason he could win against the ROOT trainees who are much better than he is in kenjutsu is because he has better sword. Like Asuma said in canon, the sharper blade wins.

**11th Legacy: Resolve of Steel **

**"A man who trained his men to be emotionless weapons couldn't tell the worth of a Shinobi or jinchuuriki… and I refuse someone like him to grade me!"**  
Uzumaki Naruto

* * *

**Koishi no Kuni (Country of Pebbles)**

Shisui was furious that ROOT had had them, but he and Itachi would get their revenge soon or they're not Uchiha. The ROOT members who were unlucky enough to get trapped by Naruto's sticky ground seal were on their mercy now.

"Where have you guys taken him?" Shisui hissed as he readied another senbon laced with lightning chakra to be put in another non-vital but no less painful spot in the ROOT member's body.

Their hostages were incapacitated with binding seals and strong genjutsu, Itachi and Shisui didn't want to take chances. It was their luck that the ROOT teams were stuck on the ground when they found them, if any of them broke free they would be outnumbered again.

However that was as far as their luck went, since none of the ROOT members answered. They were all as stiff and silent as a doll, and seemed incapable of betraying their master. Itachi frowned at their lack of response then forced one of them to open their jaws. As expected there was a seal on their tongues that resembled Chinese binary codes. This must be the 'Iwazaru no Fuuin' Danzou stole from the tower. Itachi and Shisui contemplated on stepping up their interrogation to get around the seal, but unfortunately they didn't have time to waste on torturing Danzou's puppets. Considering what kind of life they've had so far, Itachi and Shisui thought a quick and painless death was an act of mercy on the ROOT members. Hopefully in the next reincarnation they would have a better life.

The Uchiha cousins then went in search of their friend, and not even once did they look back at the six burning corpses they left behind.

* * *

Those who descended from the Uzumaki clan were blessed with special chakra. Their branch family could use their chakra for various purposes, such as healing, but it pales in comparison to the main family. The main family's special chakra was more potent than normal chakra, which was why in spite of it not being elemental in nature, it could materialize and move at the user's will without a medium. However this special chakra of theirs had its drawbacks. It was so potent that it burned out their chakra coils, making it extremely painful to use for those with undeveloped chakra coils. Which was why even though Uzumaki children of the main family awakened it at eight, they never used it more than for ritual purposes during for their coming of age ceremony, which required a very little amount to show what kind of shape their chakra took.

Most of them didn't even use their special chakra for battle until their coils are fully developed. Usually starting at twelve, an Uzumaki would be able to use their special chakra sparingly. Hakurei had warned him to not use more than three chains at once, since while Kurama's healing could prevent the worst of the damage does not mean he should abuse it when he could avoid it.

Naruto was sure Hakurei would be really angry if he knew what just happened. Not only did he go against Hakurei's warning, he had done so to save two ROOT kids. He was dangling in the air, right in the middle of the ravine with four chains deeply rooted to the cliff face while the other two chains coiled around Sai and his brother. There are only two words to describe his position, _oh shit_.

When he saw that Sai was waking up he couldn't help but ask: "Hello Sai, how about a temporary truce?" He offered as the boy blinked owlishly at their situation, "As you can see… one of your teammates fucked up and blew us away, so here we are… dangling like idiots. Can you draw something to get us out of here? We can settle our mess later the moment our feet touches the ground."

Sai narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "Why should I help you? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for me to capture you here?"

Naruto snorted, "What makes you think you're have the upper hand now Sai?" He wondered out loud, "Just for your information, _my_ chains are still coiling around your waist and I can kill you if I want." Sai frowned at that, "And I can get myself out of this mess, but the only reason I didn't is because I only have enough strength to pull myself up and I would have had to let you and your brother go."

The painter Shinobi narrowed his eyes as he fished out a scroll out of his pocket and started to draw a hawk. Shin who has just barely regained consciousness yelped when Sai suddenly grabbed his arm. Naruto released them from his hold and withdrew all of his chains except one to pull himself up.

It didn't surprise him at all that the moment he poked his head out of the ravine he had to duck from a barrage of shuriken. Activating his 'Hikou no Fuuin' Naruto jumped twenty feet above the ground, somersaulted and landed lightly on his feet. His eyes narrowed at the three squads of ROOT, and unlike those who attacked before they were as young as Sai. There are no adult in this group, the oldest was probably just thirteen to fifteen.

Something was wrong, Danzou had used children before but it didn't make sense to send them to go after him. Even if they were weaker than the adults it doesn't make it any easier for them just because he was alone. Naruto activated his 'Hikou no fuuin' again and fled to the deep forest, or rather to the sky above the canopy.

He would have used Kage Bunshin but he needed Shisui who was a sensor to track him down with his chakra to find him. This was a battle to survive, whatever Danzou wanted from him, that cripple old crone wouldn't get it!

"Shit!" Naruto cursed when he saw a barrage of kunai with exploding tags headed for his direction. He used Kawarimi to replace himself with a log, barely escaping with his life. "It seems that they're after my life." Naruto concluded from how lethal their attacks had been so far, but why would they want him dead? His death would be Konoha's downfall, or at least a trigger to it like what happened to Kusagakure.

Then again thinking of the political agenda of that old cripple could wait until he got out of this mess.

He gritted his teeth when his kunai clashed with a tanto, while he knew he had superior strength, even he could be pushed back like now when another ninja joined in. Naruto glared at the two as he was stuck blocking their swords with the kunai on both his hands. He could feel his left hand start to waver, he really had to get his left hand to be on equal strength with his right, he thought grimly before he activated 'flight mode' and slipped away from their grasp like water.

Naruto formed three seals in rapid movement, Tiger-Snake-Ram! **"Fūton: Kami Oroshi -** Wind Release: Divine Wind Current." Naruto whispered as a vortex of wind was created from his palm, blasting everything on its path including the two young ROOT. While he only had completed second stage of wind manipulation, contrary to what people believe, you didn't have to complete elemental chakra the training to use elemental techniques. Doing so just helps you if you plan on creating original techniques and increases the chakra efficiency of jutsu. Or in the case of the wind element, it allows shaping the wind chakra to its most lethal shape. Naruto has not perfected that stage yet but fortunately for him, he had enough chakra to make it up with sheer chakra overload.

Naruto swallowed when he saw them slam against nearby trees, crashing down to the ground in a painful heap. Naruto was sure he at least broke a couple of important bones of theirs judging from the sickening cracks he heard. He would have finished them off to relieve them of their suffering but unfortunately he could not afford that charity in an active battlefield, not when there were nine other ROOT members after his life.

As he kept dodging their assault and returned it in kind, he noticed something was wrong. They stopped trying to use lethal attacks and were actually trying to herd him to one particular direction. Naruto really didn't want to be herded like a sheep but the moment he noticed it, he felt a ripple of chakra caressing his skin and cursed out loud.

A barrier, they set up a fucking damned barrier! One that was no doubt strong enough to jam chakra signals, even a jinchuuriki's chakra.

Naruto spun around, ready to run out to the barrier's boundary. He had to destroy the barrier, continuing the fight inside would put him in a disadvantage. His eyes widened when he saw another barrage of kunai was thrown in his direction, and they had exploding tags on it. He activated his Hikou no Fuuin in reflex because with his normal speed alone he won't get away in time, however in a moment of panic Naruto misjudged the power he put on his seal and the blast the exploding tags released, he was blown away high to the air before crashing through a row of trees.

* * *

Shisui who had been running alongside him suddenly came to an abrupt halt and Itachi stopped a few feet ahead of him. After cremating the ROOT members, Shisui decided to track down Naruto's chakra which supposed to be pretty easy considering that Naruto didn't try to hide it. He was like a chakra beacon to a sensor Shinobi like Shisui. They had been running like mad when Shisui sensed from Naruto's chakra spike that he had been attacked.

"I lost him." Shisui whispered, Itachi blanching as the worst scenario played on his mind. "No… he is not dead." He assured Itachi, "Something is interrupting his chakra from sending out signals for me to track… "

"A barrier?" Itachi guessed.

Shisui nodded, "Most likely… one that is strong enough to mask Naruto's chakra." He scowled, "How the hell are we going to track him down now?"

Itachi gritted his teeth then glanced at the sword on his back, Tenrou, the heavenly wolf. "Do you remember what Naruto told us about Muramasa's Shiseiten?"

"About how they called out to each other?" Shisui muttered as he too, glanced at his Shibien. "But… Naruto's Shiseiten, Hokuto Shichisei (North Dipper Seven Stars)..."

"… is more problematic than it's worth." Itachi finished grimly.

* * *

_Flashback_

_"Demon incarnate?" Naruto chuckled softly when Shisui told him that the old smith he was a frequent customer of was a fanboy of Naruto's grandfather. And then Shisui told him that according to Munechika, Muramasa was a great and saintly man but his swords were demon incarnates._

_Itachi crossed his arms, wondering what amused Naruto. "I assume that's because his swords have been used to kill so many people?"_

_Naruto shrugged, "Every weapon in this world was born to be soaked with blood... one couldn't be called demonic for what it does to its kill." Naruto murmured, "My grandfather's Shiseiten however... are unique, it's one of few sentient weapons that exist in the Shinobi world, even among the seven swords of Kiri only the one called Samehada is sentient."_

_"But your grandfather managed to produce four sentient swords, a feat that is considered legendary to a blacksmith." Itachi drawled._

_"Well... in a sense the Shiseiten have their own will, but that's just one part that got them called demonic swords..." Naruto sighed wearily, "When used... they'll guide you to a degree, trying to communicate with their owner... teaching you how to use them." Itachi and Shisui nodded at that, they had realized there was some sort of magnetic force that guides them to swing their swords in particular ways. "It doesn't sound so bad at first... but apparently those with weak wills would be consumed by their sword's stronger will and go ballistic for blood and power."_

_Shisui gulped at that, "That's... isn't that so similar with the relationship between a jinchuuriki and their bijuu?" Though in Naruto's case it was not that way._

_Naruto nodded grimly at that, "Yes, but I am not worried for you and Itachi." He stated confidently, "You both have strong wills... and from what I have seen your swords approve of your resolve so it's unlikely they would try to dominate your will."_

_"... Naruto-kun." Itachi called, "If I may ask." Naruto nodded, "Who are the previous owners of these swords? And have any of them fallen to its power?"_

_Naruto clenched his fist. "Yes." He confirmed, "It's because... when my grandfather tempered the Shiseiten, he was only told by the Hi no Daimyou to create the strongest swords as a gift to his fellow Fire Guardians..." He shook his head, "At that time, according to Hakurei, the only thing on Muramasa-ojiisan's mind was forging the strongest weapons for the loyal guardians of our country... he was just newly promoted as Fire Guardian back then and hailed as the most talented blacksmith in his generation, he had no idea what kind of person would wield his swords..."_

_Namikaze Muramasa was the youngest guardian promoted by the Daimyou, he was eighteen when he was recruited. According to Hakurei, in spite of his talent and power as both a shinobi and blacksmith, he was naive when he was younger. He was a kind and gentle man, and personality wise, Muramasa wasn't fit for either profession but he had an iron heart when it comes to his duty. But even an iron heart was not infallible..._

_"What happened?" Shisui asked worriedly._

_The jinchuuriki swallowed, "For the first few years nothing wrong happened, or rather something wrong already did but no one noticed... eventually one of the wielders became a traitor." He gritted out, "His sword was furious of the treachery... and in its rage turned its wielder to a mindless killer and slaughtered his benefactors for the coup."_

_Shisui blinked at that, "Well... that's not so bad?"_

_"To Hi no Kuni, yes." Naruto agreed solemnly, "But witnessing the traitor losing himself and being punished by his own sword made the other wielders fear theirs and they shunned Muramasa-ojiisan for it. The daimyou was livid that his guardians didn't trust themselves or their loyalties enough to wield the swords and stripped the three guardians who threw away their ownership of the Shiseiten of their positions... the previous daimyou himself was wary of the Shiseiten since their not just weapons but sentient ones at that... even so, he made a mistake and gave one of the Shiseiten to his first son, hoping to mend their strained relationship because he preferred his second son who was more talented and wise."_

_Itachi frowned, "It didn't... the sword killed his first son." Itachi guessed._

_Naruto nodded, "Maybe that was the Daimyou's true intention, testing his son's loyalty..." He sighed wearily, "Muramasa-ojiisan was devastated that his sword was used by the Daimyou to kill his own son, so he requested to retire from his position and begged the Daimyou to let him bring the Shiseiten back to Konoha with him."_

_"Woah..." Shisui gasped, "That's a pretty big request! Why did the daimyou gtve in and let Muramasa and his Shiseiten go?"_

_"The previous Daimyou was fond of Muramasa-ojiisan and after everything, he didn't have the heart to force him to stay. However... he had one last request." Naruto waved his forefinger. "He requested Muramasa-ojiisan to leave one of the Shiseiten with him, a spear called Hokuraku Shimon... the shiseiten that took his son's life."_

_"...Wow." Shisui mouthed, "I don't know if the previous Daimyou was being stupid or awesome, no normal person would want the spear that killed their son to be anywhere near them."_

_Naruto shrugged, "That's why we have three Shiseiten in the Tower, Hokuraku Shimon is with the Daimyou's family... it became their family heirloom. Ojiisan was desperate to get away from the Daimyou's court as he couldn't bear to see betrayed looks on his comrade's faces, that they thought... he created Shiseiten with the purpose of testing their loyalty in mind, putting a leash on them...while in reality what the Shiseiten did to their traitorous wielders was on their own accord as swords that were forged for the loyal guardians of this country."_

_"I see..." Itachi murmured then glanced at the sword Naruto had on his table. " So this is the last Shiseiten in the Tower's possession... "_

_Naruto nodded grimly, "Two of the Shiseiten took a liking to certain families... Hokuraku Shimon stayed with the Daimyou partly because it loved their blood, while this one... my Hokuto Shichisei." Naruto gestured to sword with golden handle before him, unlike Shibien and Tenrou that had skin wrap as its handle. The sword was also as long as Shibien, and it was a two edged sword with a very prominent blue sheen on its blade that was a signature of his grandfather's swords. "It took a liking to its creator's line..."_

_"Is that why you hesitate to use it?" Itachi asked._

_Naruto nodded, "While I have confidence in my will... the moment I give this sword my blood I have to... steel my resolve too..."_

_Itachi's eyes widened at that, "Because you're of Muramasa's blood?"_

_Naruto smiled at that, "I am his heir after all... that's why…" Naruto wrapped the sword with bandage that had seals written all over it. "…Until I am ready, Hokuto will have to stay asleep for a while."_

* * *

The blond seal master groaned as he surveyed the line of trees he crashed against, thankfully he managed to reinforce his body with chakra in the last minute so he had not broken his back upon crashing but it was still painful. "Damn... how far did I get blasted from the barrier's border?"

 **'At least around fifty meters.'** Kurama who had been too quiet for a while helpfully informed him, **'How the hell did you manage to get yourself in this kind of mess? AGAIN?!'** The last part was said with exasperated tone.

Why is this third jinchuuriki of his always getting himself in trouble?! Heck! Mito, who was the wife of a kage had a relatively peaceful life. Even Kushina only got kidnapped once, and the daily problems she had were minor in comparison to her son. Naruto was already put into this kind of situation twice, and don't forget about the little problems he got himself into in a daily basis, which ranged from burning forests, explosions in his workshop, cooking attempts that come alive and his not so innocent and probably lethal little garden in the rooftop. The latter was undoubtedly the most dangerous and in the off chance that Naruto gets it in his pretty little head to pull a Hashirama and make second coming of the Shi no Mori (Forest of Death), he was sure not even a bijuu would venture there. How Naruto possesses a green thumb that could 'somewhat' rival the Mokuton was beyond him, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Naruto's chakra and seals he uses when watering his plants.

 **'I healed your chakra coils, good job stalling time for me to do it.'** Kurama grunted. ' **What did that old man Hakurei say about using your special chakra again? Don't depend on it until you're twelve! Our combined healing ability is not going to work forever for internal damage as delicate as chakra coils!'**

 _'Not my idea, I had no choice! Once I get out of this mess, I am going to recreate Hiraishin or something since getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with hostile company seems to be a trend for me.'_ Naruto said mentally to his tenant in sardonic tone.

Naruto crossed his hands as he blocked a jump kick from his left, grunting as he was pushed away. The blond jinchuuriki gritted his teeth as he saw three ROOT members surrounded him, they were wearing snake (Hebi), Lizard (Tokage), and Bat (Koumori) masks, all of them then took an offensive stance. They wanted to confront him directly, there's no escaping this it seemed. Naruto parried a blow from right as he ducked and slammed his elbow into Hebi's stomach. His second attacker gagged as the air was squeezed out from his lungs. Naruto somersaulted over his head to dodge Koumori's kick, and then he threw a kunai that was enshrouded in red chakra.

The said kunai embedded to the snake masked ROOT. "Aaaaargh!" The snake masked ANBU's scream of pain echoed as he writhed in agony.

The other two were dumbfounded, why did their teammate scream over a small wound by Kunai? While the wound was deep, a trained ninja wouldn't let out such scream. Their eyes widened beneath their masks when they saw the kunai oozed red demonic chakra, and the wound darkened as their wounded teammate writhed in agony.

Kurama's demonic chakra was even more potent than the strongest poisons of Suna's puppeteers, the wounded man won't die right away but the pain the demonic chakra caused when they invaded a non-jinchuuriki or anyone who was not descended from the Rikudo Sennin was immense. He didn't like to inflict unnecessary pain to subdue his enemies but he wanted them to know that even though they had the upper hand in direct confrontation he was not harmless.

It was a warning, for them to stay away from him.

A warning which was ignored when the remaining two charged at him. Naruto knew then that it was not going to be easy to deter them. Naruto hastily activated his Hikou no fuuin and dodged the incoming right hook with light movements. He purposely let himself fall to the ground before he stopped his fall with his right hand and then swung his right leg in a sweeping movement that planted a painful kick to Koumori's shin. It didn't faze his attacker for long as the man pounced to pin him down. Naruto threw three Kunai which were easily dodged as the man shifted to the right and proceeded to pound him to the ground. Much to the ROOT member's shock Naruto dissolved into chakra smoke, and another puff of chakra erupted behind him and the next thing he knew a kunai was embedded to the back of his head that killed him instantly.

Naruto grimaced as he withdrew the bloodied kunai but kept his gaze to the remaining ROOT member who wore the lizard (Tokage) mask. If another Shinobi decided to join the fray he would be in big trouble, the reason he could handle the other two was because he caught them by surprise and he was not sure he could pull it for a third time. He glanced at the storage seal on his bandaged left hand, before he shook his head mentally at the prospect. He was not ready, not yet.

He expected the last surviving member of the team to attack but much to his surprise, Tokage jumped away from the clearing and fled. Naruto cursed as he threw a kunai with an explosive tag to the retreating Shinobi. When the smoke cleared and no body was found. This was bad; the next time they came back they would be more prepared for him. He had to find the barrier wall as soon as possible.

He gathered chakra to his nose, wincing when he smelt something strong that numbed his sense of smell. It seemed they knew how some jinchuuriki developed a keen sense of smell and removed that asset from his repertoire. "The sky..." He murmured, "Since when it become milky white?" Just now it was still blue with some dark clouds. "Ki..." He hissed, "Kirigakure no Jutsu?" Now they took his sight too? What the hell they were planning?

He heard something, a familiar sound and felt the vibration in the air, one that he associated with lightning chakra Shisui and Aizen used. His eyes widened as he realized what they were trying to pull. He jumped as his flight seals glowed, floating him twenty feet in the air just right above the cloak of mist. He winced when he saw electric current started to crawl through the air with high water vapor on it, though he realized that to pull this off whoever executed the Kirigakure no Jutsu had to have superb control over this technique or they would be killed by the lightning element attack. He couldn't stay afloat forever though so he had to get rid of this mist first.

Naruto was now really regretting not finishing his wind element training, but he had to make do with the crude proficiency he had. His nimble fingers formed six hand seals quickly before he descended back to that dangerous mist, Ox-Dragon-Horse-Dog-Bird! Naruto spread his arm then spun in a movement that resembled the Hyuuga's Kaiten as a massive ring of wind spread out from his hands. " **Futon: Shougekiha no Jutsu-** Wind release: Shock Wave."

The mist was swept clean by the Shock Wave of wind, and he managed to land safely to the ground with a soft thud. His eyes narrowed as he started to feed Kurama's chakra to his Hikou no Fuuin. Kurama's chakra was potent, and his young body could only handle a miniscule amount of it but he was running out of normal chakra and it would take a while for him to recover. Fortunately Kurama's chakra somehow managed to be compatible to his Hikou no Fuuin, unlike other body enhancing seals that explode upon contact with demonic chakra. It was probably because it was engraved upon his body and used was often enough, that it became like a part of his body. But just to be safe Naruto limited his time limit of feeding Kurama's chakra to thirty seconds and after that he had to wait for one full minute before doing it again.

But those thirty seconds would be enough to complete this one task. There were four lightning element users, all of them were around thirty to forty meters away from him, at two, four, seven and eleven o'clock.

In one short second four kage bunshin appeared under the cloak of chakra smoke and split to four directions. The original Naruto who was left in the clearing panted as tried to regain his lost breath, mentally counting on his head as he held a ram seal. Lowering the air pressure around his clones would allow them to move with unbelievable speed but they won't last long, kage bunshin in spite of their solidity was still a mass of chakra that could disperse easily. The lower the air pressure meant less oxygen, and while a normal human would have suffocated, and clone could only last as long as they could hold their breath.

"Three… two… one." Naruto counted down with a sense of trepidation of what he was going to do next. "Bunshin Daibakuha no Jutsu." He gritted out.

Four simultaneous explosions happened in four different directions, and Naruto gagged as the memory of four exploding clones returned to him. This time he was sure his attackers were dead, because before his clones exploded they had pounced on their targets. The numbing smell had gone because of his wind element attack and he could smell properly again. Naruto soon regretted the return of his keen sense of smell because the moment he sniffed the air, his nostrils were invaded by the scents of smoke, fire and the worst of all, the scent of burning flesh. His attackers were indeed dead, there's no way they were faking that scent.

 **'Oh no, you don't!'** Kurama snapped, the bijuu's roar echoing in his mind. ' **Don't pass out here; we're not out of danger yet! Don't you dare!'**

Naruto gritted his teeth as he struggled to stay conscious, but chakra exhaustion was something that not even an Uzumaki was immune to. He had to draw more chakra from Kurama to sustain his body, but that was not going to help for long. His young body was already too tired. "Ugh…" His blue eyes turned crimson and his whisker marks became darker. He fell down to the ground, just in time to dodge an ink animal that came out of nowhere, but the animated ink was able to shred his left sleeve. "Sai…" He mouthed out with a grimace marred on his face; he almost forgot that boy was still around.

He clutched his left hand; it was just a scratch that fortunately would soon be healed. Naruto cursed as he heard a roar, which no doubt belonged to Sai's ink animal. He also picked up the scents of remaining ROOT members, they were trying to surround him. He fled deeper to the forest as fast as he could, dodging the traps they had laid for him. He didn't know how many ROOT Shinobi were left after he killed six of them with his exploding clones, but there was probably more than one three-man cell not counting Sai and his brother.

In spite of his position Naruto couldn't stop a nagging feeling that something was really wrong on the back of his mind. He knew something was wrong the moment he started fighting with Sai and his brother, and when he fought inside this barrier. **'I concur…'**

' _What's wrong actually?'_

**_'Meh… who knows how you humans manage your messes, though I got to say it's weird having only kids popping up since you got trapped inside the barrier.'_ **

Naruto's eyes widened at that, Kurama was right! He was fighting for his life so he didn't really pay that much attention to their age, but these ROOT members were so young… the oldest he encountered so far was that brother of Sai who couldn't have been older than Itachi. That explained how they were much weaker than the ROOT teams he encountered before. These teams are not the same as ones he met before he was separated from Itachi and Shisui. They were trainees of ROOT, which explained why he could catch them off guard with exploding clones while the other team survived.

_'When I fought with Sai I just thought he shouldn't be out of Konoha yet… not to fight me, Danzou should have keep his trainees out from sensitive missions such as abducting or assassinating a jinchuuriki like me.'_

Kurama frowned as he heard what ran through Naruto's mind now, **_'Great, so… the bastard sent his child soldiers after you instead of adult ones. I don't care why he did it, but I'm warning you! Don't you dare to hesitate! They tried to kill you! If there's one concept I understood about human's fighting, it was the 'I kill you before you kill me' concept!'_** Naruto winced at that as he dodged another swinging log. **_"I won't save your ass for being stupid, you hear me! Uzumaki Naruto?!'_**

Naruto swallowed, he knew it was inevitable to kill as a Shinobi, he already killed but it was still not an easy thing to do and it _shouldn't_ be. He didn't know how Shisui dealt with killing but he and Itachi had the same belief when it comes to taking life. It was never a _right_ thing to do but something you _have to_ do and accept as part of a Shinobi's life. He and Itachi believed the moment you found it easy and thought of it as something right, was the moment you lost your compassion as human. Shinobi were beings that endure and make difficult choices in their life after all.

He always appeared to be prepared for anything thrown to his life, but his paranoia and pragmatic actions were because he was afraid of being wrong when he decides on his course of action based on his own feelings. There was always someone's feelings taken into account for every action he took, Itachi's, Shisui's, Tori's… his parents'… but never his own.

He closed his eyes. Then as he opened his eyes it was no longer crimson but azure blue he inherited from his Namikaze blood. Naruto jumped out of the lush forest, the seal he had on his bandaged wrist shone as he smeared his blood on it, and a sword appeared with small puff of chakra smoke. The sword fell to his waiting hands, and unsheathed it the moment his feet touched water's surface and ripples of water spread out.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as six figures appeared before him, and on the sky Sai and his brother were preparing an aerial attack. It seemed Danzou had indeed sent a whole class of ROOT trainees after him.

"Before you start attacking me…" He began in the calmest voice he could muster, "I would like you to know that… I am no longer going to run or hide from you." He stated firmly as he raised his sword, the bluish sheen of the blade gleaming under the sunset. "However… would you enlighten me as to why your master ordered you to kill me?" He asked with a frown. "My death won't serve Konoha's greater good, and Hokage-sama won't let him get away with this…"

One of them stepped forward and Naruto recognized the lizard mask, the survivor of the team that confronted him directly. "We're ordered to test your capability jinchuuriki, to confirm your worth as Konoha's weapon."

They answered, which meant Danzou wanted him to know the purpose of this assault. No matter how important a jinchuuriki is to Konoha, Naruto didn't expect Danzou to be willing to sacrifice so many trainees to achieve that purpose. "And you're willing to die for that? I have killed… at least seven of you by now, does their death prove nothing?" He asked in incredulous tone.

"It's not for us to determine." Tokage answered in clipped tone.

"Then how..." Naruto stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened in realization. It was not them who is to determine his worth for Danzo, because they would die serving that purpose. It was _someone_ else who was going to do that. They were being watched! Damn! "You idiots! No one needs to die just because your damned master wants to know whether or not I am a worthy jinchuuriki to Konoha! What does he know about jinchuuriki anyway?! A man who trained his subordinates to be emotionless warriors couldn't tell the worth of a Shinobi or jinchuuriki… and I refuse someone like him to grade me!"

Tokage as expected for a ROOT member, especially one who was probably the oldest of the trainees Naruto had met so far was undeterred by his exclamation. "So you're an idealist Uzumaki-san? Why would a weapon like you bother to keep your emotions? It makes you imperfect… we Shinobi have _to sacrifice oneself. Closing your eyes to the sunlight, distinguishing yourself in the shadows. That is the true form of ninja…_ " He quoted his master.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, "And that's why it matters not to you… that your comrades died for something mundane like determining my worth?" He asked in incredulous tone. "While it's true Shinobi have to give their everything to the village, it's foolish to turn your eyes to the darkness and live in shadow forever… those who don't acknowledge their humanity are nothing but hollow shells that would destroy themselves and achieve nothing!" Just like that man who called himself his teacher, a pathetic man who discarded his humanity for sole reason of avenging his fallen clan.

He wished he could have seen what kind of face these trainees made under their masks, to see if there's still hope left in their eyes. "Nevertheless… this is what we're set to do, this is our mission."

"I see… " Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Then let us fight, but I will let you know one thing." He warned them before he popped up a soldier pill to his mouth. Soldier pills were not safe for children under twelve years old with undeveloped chakra coils, but he would deal with the side effects later. "I choose to fight for what I believe in, something you should have done yourselves… that's what a true Shinobi is to me."

* * *

Itachi and Shisui gasped when they felt Tenrou and Shibien on their backs suddenly shook, pulsing as if warning them of something. "Well..." Shisui trailed off, "The good news is that our swords are calling for Naruto's now, but the bad news..." He snarled at the last part.

"He is cornered..." Itachi gritted his teeth in anger and horror, "Enough to force him to use Hokuto." He finished as he leaped to nearby tree followed closely by Shisui.

Shisui cursed out loud, "Damn… damn them! The moment I get my hands on them, I will use my cruelest genjutsu on them." He vowed viciously, "Emotionless cronies be damned!"

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "My thoughts exactly… and with that said…" He trailed as he formed nine hand seal so quickly that he blurred through them in a second, **"Katon:Goukakyu no Jutsu-** Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

The giant fireball burned through the lush forest, leaving trail of fire in its wake. None of the Uchiha missed the four black blurs that dodged the grand fireball so they threw their fire seal powered shuriken rapidly. Four disks of fire tore down the trees and the fleeing Shinobi scrambled to dodge the incoming projectiles. But because Itachi and Shisui decimated the surrounding forest with their fire attack, there's no place to hide.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at one of the masked Shinobi; he recognized that platinum blond hair anywhere. Shisui seemed to conclude the same, this ROOT member was a Yamanaka. All distinctive clans, especially those with bloodline or hereditary techniques would have nearly identical chakra signatures. Shisui was not as good as the Nidaime who could tell someone's clan just from their chakra, but he had been a teammate of a Yamanaka for few years so Shisui was quite familiar with a Yamanaka's chakra. Itachi moved his gaze to the black haired one beside the Yamanaka, his sharingan spotting tiny dots of chakra on the masked shinobi's body. This one was an Aburame.

"A Yamanaka…" Itachi announced coolly, "And an Aburame…" He didn't put it past Danzou to be able to worm his way to respectable clans like the Aburame and Yamanaka.

Shisui scowled at them, "How dare you show your faces to us! Not that I am complaining!" He cracked his knuckles, "As promised… you will be in a world of pain, and I will make it less painless if you get out of our way!"

"Shisui." Itachi warned, he was as furious as Shisui was but they couldn't afford to be reckless. Shisui fumed before he schooled his face back and calmed down. "As much as I would love to ask no more than you to get out of our way… I can't ignore the fact that your master sent a 'Yamanaka' to confront us… damage control just in case perhaps?"

Shisui quickly caught on what Itachi implied. That bastard war hawk intended to screw with them and got a Yamanaka to mess with their minds? It was one thing to do it to enemies and traitors, but to comrades? "You dare?! That does it!" He unsheathed the Shibien and his sword was instantly coated by lightning chakra. "Itachi, it seems they're not going to move anytime soon so I am going to make them."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "So it seems…" He too unsheathed his blade but it was enshrouded in flame. "Make sure to incapacitate the Yamanaka first." He whispered, loud enough only for Shisui to hear, "We won't like whatever plan they have with an expert of mind techniques…"

The shushin expert grinned at that, "Of course Itachi!" He saluted before he swung Shibien down to a seemingly empty air, **"Hono Ikazura (** fiery thunder) **!"**

A torrent of lightning chakra jumped from Shibien and struck down the ground where the Yamanaka stood just a moment before. Itachi cut off their escape route, blazing fire bloomed out of the top of his sword and engulfed the four Shinobi. **"Shakuran Entei- (** Fire Emperor's Blooming Orchid **)!"**

Itachi and Shisui frowned when they saw the four bodies dispersed as a burning swarm of kikaichuu, the Aburama was a sneaky fellow.

* * *

Out of the four of Muramasa's heavenly blades, Shibien was the oldest, followed by its brother Tenrou then Hokuraku Shimon, and the Hokuto Shichisei he held was the youngest of them all. While all his grandfather's swords were temperamental to an extent, Hokuto being the youngest was not just the temperamental but also arrogant and stubborn which was why it stuck close to those who inherited Muramasa's blood. Hokuto, like any other Shiseiten desired wielders with a strong resolve, with strength in both mind and body. They valued only the genuine power of its wielder, thus using chakra that's not his own when using Hokuto was out of the option.

You could be their wielder, but apparently lowering their standards was not in the contract. Naruto had heard enough gory stories of wielders of the Shiseiten that fell victim to their swords, and the moment Naruto was chosen by Hokuto Shichisei, Naruto knew this sword won't hesitate to reject him the moment he was deemed unworthy, blood relation with its forger be damned. Naruto wasn't going to lie that the reason he never used Hokuto in a real battle or spar was because he was afraid his grandfather's legacy would reject his resolve.

But now that fear was so far away… there's nothing to fear as long as he believed in what he lives for, that was his nindo.

In terms of length Hokuto had a longer reach than ROOT's tanto and combined with its sharper blade, based on weaponry alone he had the better edge. His chokuto clashed with the tanto of his attacker, the one with mask of a bat but with different color than one he saw before. The second Koumori ROOT member was definitely younger than the first one and much weaker. He pushed on and cracks started to appear on Koumori's tanto. Which was no wonder since clash between blades are determined by sharpness. "Why don't you stop now?" Naruto urged on, pushing more chakra to his right hand. "This is a senseless battle, dying here wouldn't serve the greater good you worshipped so much!" Naruto shouted as he shattered Koumori's tanto beyond repair.

"Naive." Tokage whispered as he swung his tanto to Naruto's unprotected left waist, "You have a bad habit of leaving your left side open when you enhance your right hand with chakra." He warned the jinchuuriki. Tokage paused as a sharp pain came from his right shoulder.

"The naïve one is you..." Naruto returned, "Who discarded your emotions and strife to follow orders without your own judgment. " Naruto stated sternly, "Raising my left hand was not a bad habit, but because I am used to…" He trailed off as he pulled the blade that was embedded on Tokage's shoulder, earning a small grunt of pain. "…wielding two swords." Naruto said as he held two nearly identical swords, one shorter by one shaku than the other.

Hokuto Shichisei was an asterism that was formed by seven stars and divided to two groups, four stars are called Tokai and the other three are called Tohyo. The longer sword he held on his right was Tokai while the shorter one was Tohyo, this was the true form of Hokuto Shichisei.

Naruto pushed chakra to his feet which made the water surface explode due to chakra overload, which caused the jinchuuriki to narrowly dodge Tokage's tanto from cutting his leg. It seemed they figured out the existence of Hikou no Fuuin and wanted to damage the seal. Naruto swung Tokai down to the defenseless Tokage, but instead of aiming for a vital spot Naruto shattered his mask. The other ROOT members charged with their tanto drawn, Naruto ducked then in a split second gritted his teeth around Tokai's handle and formed half seal with his right hand. Three kage bunshin appeared in a small puff of chakra smoke, and Naruto could feel the familiar burn in chakra coils and distantly hear Kurama throwing tantrums about brats ignoring the dangers of going past their own limits. Great, Kurama was pissed.

Nah… he would deal with Kurama's tantrums later, it's not…

BOOM!

A loud explosion echoed through the air, but it was pretty far away. Naruto used the split second of their distraction to put a distance between him and the ROOT teams. Naruto caught the sight of smoke rising in two o'clock, it seemed Itachi and Shisui had a helluva time sating their inner pyromaniac. Though in Shisui's case, he was blatantly a pyromaniac who used both fire and lightning whenever he could. Hakurei looked ready to faint when informed that Shibien and Tenrou respectively had grown to be compatible to lightning and fire element chakra. It seemed the old seal master had a bad experience with the Uchiha and their pyromaniac tendencies.

Tokage looked unfazed by the smoke that was no doubt a sign that his comrades were in trouble by now, Naruto could see his face. Tokage was the same age as Shisui, with brown hair and eyes in the same color. Naruto didn't care how Tokage looked, but he had seen those kind of eyes before. He had seen it in Tori's, though it was slightly different. Those were the eyes of someone who accepted death. While in Tori's eyes it was laced with kindness, gratitude and regret for not being able to keep protecting him, in Tokage's it was a plain acceptance that he had to die.

As if death had to come to him just because the mission dictated so.

His Kage Bunshin charged to engage the other ROOT members while he chose Tokage as his target. He formed the offensive stance of his kenjutsu, and then he charged.

" _Tonro_ **:** Ravenous wolf !"

There are seven blind spots in a human beings movement, and in this style the sword guided the wielder connecting these spots in a series of attacks that could cripple and then kill their opponent. Naruto scowled, if they valued their life so cheaply he would show them it was not that easy to welcome death!

" _Komon_ **:** Giant gate!"

Naruto murmured as he stepped back, his hands spread out as he swung both swords in wide movement, sending wave of wind that hit all of them at once.

Naruto was well aware he was forcing his body to its limits to keep going, but he couldn't and wouldn't hesitate.

 _"Rokuson_ **:** Jovial life **,  
** _Mongoku_ **:** Zenith of Euphoria **,  
** _Rencho_ **:** Clarity **,  
** _Mugoku_ **:** Knight's song **."**

Naruto gritted his teeth as he forced his hands to form the last star of Hokuto Shichisei, crossing his arms above his head sending a wave of chakra above them which rained down, injuring the whole squad of Shinobi at once.

 **"** _Hagun_ **:** warriors of destruction **.** "

 _Hokuto Shichirenjuku_ **-** Asterism of the Seven Northern Stars.

Ignoring Kurama's protests about how screwed his body is right now, Naruto narrowly dodged Sai's ink lion while spraying the incoming ink beast with water in one swift swing of his sword. Sai narrowed his eyes at that, no wonder Naruto led them all the way to the nearest water source. Uzumaki Naruto had figured out that his ink animals were especially weak against water and unusable in rainy weather. Naruto seemed to have affinity for water like any other Uzumaki but it seemed that while he was aware of it, the jinchuuriki had nonexistent training for it. Which was why he opted to push chakra into the existing water to destroy Sai's ink animal. Then again at that age to master one element was quite a feat already.

Shin clenched his fist as he watched their fellow ROOT members fell one by one, it seemed that they were still alive but the last attack was vicious. Naruto from his observation used heavy, lightning-quick blows, which aimed to inflict immense damage upon contact, he was sure had the blond been in prime condition they would have been killed already.

"Sai…" Shin whispered, "Isn't this enough? Uzumaki Naruto is strong… stronger than any of us." He said firmly, "We should pull back now, there's…"

Sai shook his head, "Danzou-sama ordered them to fight and die to test Uzumaki's capacity, and we're ordered to observe nii-san… " Sai murmured, "We… can't disobey."

Shin heard Sai's normal stoic voice had a tint of doubt in it, Sai seemed to have second thoughts in letting their comrades die in the hands of Uzumaki Naruto as Danzou-sama ordered. "But…"

The painter shinobi narrowed his eyes as he finished a series of characters that took the form of birds and flew away. Sai had sent the result of their observations of Uzumaki Naruto and they would… "We can't disobey… let's join the fight now." And die as ROOT Shinobi who supported Konoha from the underground.

* * *

 **"Raijin Moraien-** Lightning web!" Shisui whispered as web of lightning chakra spread out and caught the wayward ROOT members. It had been a long cat and mouse game, and they had decimated a good part of the forest with fire and lightning in the process.

Itachi craned his neck as he observed Shisui's handy work, it took quite a while to round them up and if not for their swords they would have been at a disadvantage. Fortunately the ROOT squad had no intentions of confronting them directly, which meant that this squad was the 'clean up' crew who was supposed to deal with the aftermath of whatever ploy Danzou cooked up. It was by sheer luck they happened to come across this team, and managed to overpower them. He had known Shiseiten was capable of throwing a lot of destruction, but he didn't expect they could use it like this to such effect. Still...

**Badump!**

Had he been someone else he would have felt wary to hold a sword that beats like a heart, an abomination in a sense. Of course that was a normal human's preconception, to be frightened by a weapon that had a will of its own and not mindless to be swung around. When he placed Tenrou near the Yamanaka's neck, Itachi could see even the stoic ROOT shinobi was wary when feeling not cold metal but something sentient and emitting killer intent more powerful than its wielder's. Itachi could almost see that instead of a metal blade, what rested against the Yamanaka's neck was a jaw of hungry wolf. The blond had the same opinion it seemed, judging from how he looked at Tenrou instead of Itachi who was holding it.

"Itachi." Shisui called out, holding a mask he had taken from one of ROOT members "Aside from that Yamanaka and one Aburame, the others are not from any clan I know of in Konoha." He shouted at the Uchiha's heir, "What should we do to them? We can kill the rest but regardless of their affiliation with ROOT the Yamanaka and Aburame... they're still part of Konoha's prominent clans..."

The ANBU frowned at that. Shisui was right, killing the Yamanaka and Aburame could get them and Uchiha clan in a lot of trouble. Danzou might use it against them later, while they had more pressing concerns now, to act rashly was not an option. "We have no time to waste with them... but it seems this Yamanaka is the brains of this mission." And he didn't like the implication of what a Yamanaka is doing in a presumably assassination/abduction mission.

Danzou either wanted to wipe their memories clean or brainwash them, and he probably planned to overwhelm them with numbers before doing so. However Danzou failed to factor in the Shiseiten's prowess, Naruto's seals and how they were used to being outnumbered by Naruto's clones. One would eventually learn how to fight efficiently when someone who had superior chakra capacity and stamina fought and outnumbered you in daily basis.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Well... we've incapacitated them, and we can't afford Danzou to discredit us, our clan or the tower..."

Shisui snorted, "I can imagine it already." The Uchiha's history with betrayal was still strong in the mind of old folks like Danzou, never mind his father had been loyal till the end. Unfortunately there were no non-Uchiha witnesses that could attest to their innocence, and Danzou could skillfully weave this incident to his liking. Too bad for Danzou, Naruto had a well deserved paranoia when it comes to him. Shisui turned to one of non-clan ROOT members, pointing at the dark haired man. "You will do." He grinned. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He whispered as a replica of him appeared. "Itachi, let's go! My kage-bunshin will mess around with them for a bit and we'll be scot free!"

Itachi sighed at that, "Very well."

* * *

**CLANK!**

Sai winced when his tanto clashed with the jinchuuriki's blade, his arms throbbed painfully because of vibrations from the clashing metals. As expected from a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, with brute strength alone each attack he intercepted felt like hitting the strongest iron from Tetsu no Kuni. No wonder his fellow ROOT trainees didn't dare to clash their weapons with the Uzumaki's. The ink user had fought Uzumaki for less than few minutes, but he had to admit defeat inwardly even before the fight ended. While Uzumaki Naruto in a sense had almost non-existent field experience, his fighting style was unconventional and unpredictable. He was also a type who grew stronger in real battle. Danzou-sama once told them that, someone like this was the most dangerous type of fighter and had to be finished in the first chance they had. However there was no such chance.

Uzumaki's fighting style at the first glance was graceful and smooth, but each strike from his sword was a heavy, lightning-quick blow which aimed to inflict immense damage upon contact. Normally he could match an opponent with superior physical powers like the jinchuuriki with catching them off guard with his ink animals, but since he joined the fray, the jinchuuriki didn't even give him a chance to pick his brush. Sai was well aware that even though the Uzumaki was winning; he was not uninjured at all. There were numerous cuts and bruises on him, and Sai was sure that Shin-niisan's tanto left a nasty gash on Uzumaki's side when he was distracted by Tokage. Their lizard masked comrade also managed to land a hit on the Uzumaki's left arm, which probably fractured the bone. But the reason Uzumaki Naruto was winning in spite of that was because he kept going as if those injuries didn't faze him at all.

Naruto struggled to keep his breathing even, it was difficult to keep fighting while ignoring his wounds. He had endured chakra coil burns for a while, and in comparison to that, the cuts and a fractured bone was no more than minor annoyance at best. Then again it was probably adrenaline that made him numb from the pain. Tokage, Sai and Shin. Only these three left, how many had he killed? All of them gave him the same eyes, eyes that say: 'just kill us and our mission will be completed.' Some of them even jumped and shifted when he attacked, making his own non-lethal attacks become killing blows. What the hell had Danzou done, that they thought their death was for the greater good of Konoha?

He shattered Tokage's tanto with one swift blow, and then he held his blade against the older boy's jugular. "This is pointless." He repeated with a hiss, "There's no greater good in this senseless battle, I am sick of it."

He expected a silence in response, but for the first time the ROOT trainee answered. "To you it is… " Tokage said as he grabbed Hokuto's blade and for a moment Naruto was almost relieved, but the blade was pulled right in front of the older boy's chest. "It seems you know a lot about us, which means you know what will happen in the end of our conditioning training to be a perfect Shinobi."

Sai and Shin stopped on their tracks, wondering why the older boy knew of the final test that was supposed to be a secret. "Touya!" Shin called out, "What are you talking about?"

The newly revealed Touya shook his head, "Everyone in this operation knew of it except you and Sai…" He gritted out, "I told them… or rather I passed a note to each of them because the seal will prevent me from talking."

"You know…" Naruto muttered in disbelief, "And so did they…" He glanced at the bodies of ROOT trainees around them. They died knowing Danzou would make them kill their surrogate brothers as a final test to be a full pledged ROOT member. "Then why?! Why you make me kill you?! Because death by my hands is more preferable than what awaits you?"

Touya titled his head to the side, "Maybe… but this is the death we choose upon ourselves Uzumaki Naruto. Maybe the first and the last thing that I know the reason of why I did it… as a human and a Shinobi, not a tool…"

"Is that so?" To ROOT, Shinobi is weapon and not human being. They were forced to throw away their emotions to become a perfect tool for Danzou. "So death is your escape route? You gave up the life your master destroyed? Has it never crossed your mind to try to find another way?"

Blood flowed the moment Touya pulled Hokuto's blade, slowly piercing through his chest. "Unfortunately Uzumaki… Naruto…" Touya gritted out, "This is the only way we know…"

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Coward…"

Touya nodded at that, "I am… I am a coward…" He coughed out blood, "Who killed his own brother to survive." Their eyes widened at that. "Guilt weakened me instead of turning me to a perfect weapon… I am a failure… our master deemed me as such, which is why I was sent to this… suicide mission."

"Touya…" Shin breathed out, "So… Saku wasn't killed in a mission?"

Touya nodded, "It's a test… " He coughed again.

It was dark, cold and quiet place… he was trapped in that place for days until he thought he was going to lose his sanity. Then suddenly he was told to kill his opponent and he would be freed and reunited with his brother. He was desperate and before he knew it he had killed someone in that dark place. Instead of became jaded and perfectly emotionless the moment he saw his brother's corpse, he was overcome with grief and guilt. There's no conditioning method that could yield perfect results, Danzou always had two results since he created ROOT and their conditioning method. The trainee that would be a perfect tool; coping with guilt and grief, their mind choosing to discard their emotions after they killed their surrogate sibling. And the trainee who failed, their mind shattered by guilt and sorrow. In the end those who fail choose to be killed in suicide missions rather than live as a failed weapon.

"So those who we're told… have failed to be full pledged members are…" Sai muttered in disbelief.

"Discarded in suicide missions." Naruto gritted out, "Then why those two too?" Naruto pointed at Shin and Sai.

Touya shook his head, "Unlike us… for Shin… the conditioning didn't work it seems…" Shin was even a worse failure than they were in Danzou's eyes, which caused Sai to be one as well. Shin had a strong mentality, and Sai's presence if anything didn't help. Sai was originally susceptible but Shin's presence prevented Sai from the worse of ROOT's conditioning. "A pair of brothers in our ops is inseparable, if one is a failure… another is marked as such too."

Shin gasped, "What the hell?! Sai and I are sent to this mission because of that?! But Danzou-sama promised me that…" Shin yelped when he suddenly felt jolt of pain through his body and fell on his knees. "Aaaargh!"

"Nii-san!" Sai called out, running towards his brother. "Hang on Nii-san!"

Naruto scowled, "Iwazaru no Fuuin…" He had heard from Hakurei that the pain caused by this seal was immense, and Danzou even used it on children. "You better watch your mouth… the pain alone could kill you…" He wheezed out then turned his attention back to Touya. "So… this is it for you?"

Touya's eyes started to flutter shut, nodding weakly at the jinchuuriki. And Naruto knew that the moment he withdrew Tokai, the older boy would die slowly because of blood loss. Naruto let go of Tokai, and then used his free hand to cover Touya's eyes while another was holding Tohyo close to Touya's jugular. "You're free now… " Naruto murmured, "May your soul find salvation…" Naruto said sadly as he felt the hand covering Touya's eyes feel the warmth of tears, and with one swift slash Touya of ROOT was no more.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto didn't know why but the moment he heard the familiar voice of Itachi and Shisui he felt so relieved, and his body gave in to exhaustion and injuries he suffered. Naruto didn't hit the cold-water surface because Itachi was quick enough to catch him. The Uchiha's scion looked pale and panicked, just like when Aizen almost killed him. Itachi was such a worrywart, he mused. Then again at the rate he kept endangering himself, Itachi might get a heart attack soon. He swore that since Itachi befriended him, the stress lines on Itachi' face have only deepened.

"I messed up again…" He coughed out, "So sorry Itachi… Shisui…"

Shisui shook his head, "Just shut up Chibi!" He snapped as he inspected Naruto's wound, he was no medic but he knew enough to know superficial wounds when he saw it. "Oh shit! A fractured arm… and you also lost a lot of blood! Can't you ask _him_ to heal you now? These aren't life threatening for now but you're in a lot of pain and a trip to nearest medical facility is going to make it worse."

Naruto laughed softly at that, "Used too much…" He murmured incoherently, "Give me a day to sleep it off, and I will be fine."

"You're impossible." Itachi chided him, leaning the jinchuuriki's head against his chest. "A fractured arm is not something you could sleep off. Besides…" He trailed off, glancing at their surroundings.

One, two, three… added with the corpses they saw on the way here… how many of them had Naruto killed? Aizen was one case, contrary to popular belief; the first kill was not the worst thing a Shinobi experienced in their career in assassination. Especially since Naruto killed Aizen with unconventional methods and Naruto was more saddened by the death of his ANBU guards to mull over his first kill and the political chaos that followed. Now however, Naruto killed these shinobi in self-defense and there's nothing that would distract him from the guilt. He knew Naruto would recover but the pain will linger there.

And there are the two survivors of this mess, and judging from the situation they couldn't put up a fight anymore. Now that they had lost their masks at one point in their scuffle with Naruto, Itachi could see they were young. The black haired boy resembled Sasuke a little, and in the same age as Naruto and his brother. The white haired boy was a bit older, probably around ten years old. Itachi was snapped out of his thoughts when Naruto sat up and turned to face the two brothers.

"What do you want to do now?" Naruto asked softly.

That was a simple question but for some reason the two reacted as if Naruto just dropped a bucket of ice water on their head. "We don't know…" Shin admitted warily. They couldn't go back to ROOT after they failed their mission, and running away was next to impossible because of the tracking seal Danzou placed on them.

"Nii-san… what should we do now?" Sai echoed, the younger brother looked equally at a loss of what to do. He had been prepared to die for this mission but after watching Touya's death and suffering, he was not sure he was willing to do so.

Shin regretted answering Naruto honestly, how could he say that? He should be a reliable brother to Sai, and here he made his brother worried. Then again he _really_ didn't know what would become of them. Shin's eyes widened when he saw Naruto walk towards them, his sword was sheathed but Shin was not a fool to forget this boy was the one who killed their fellow ROOT members. What if he thought they would better off dead?

Shin wrapped his arms around Sai who was still dazed from the whole ordeal and yelled at the approaching jinchuuriki. "I won't let you kill my brother! Stay away! Don't come any closer!"

Sai was stunned by his brother's hysteric shouts, Shin was always emotional but he never heard his brother act like this. "Nii-san?"

Naruto sighed wearily, "In case you forgot… I shouted myself hoarse to convince your comrades from throwing their life away, what makes you think I am going to kill you now?"

"Eh…" Shin blinked owlishly at that, and realized it made sense. The white haired boy was unwilling to let go of his brother yet though. "I guess…"

Itachi and Shisui who stood right behind Naruto-in case he collapsed again- sighed at that, it was so Naruto to try to talk his opponent out of their stupidity even though they tried to kill him. They had a feeling it would be a routine for Naruto.

"It seems unlike them you still choose to live." He smiled sadly at that, "Good… very good…" He laughed softly. "I have a proposition for you." Naruto offered.

"You do?" Shisui raised an eyebrow at that, "Since whe… hmph!" Shisui had his mouth covered by Itachi and wisely shut up.

Shin and Sai looked at the jinchuuriki, wondering what Naruto wanted from them. Shin didn't know why but for some reason he had come to a conclusion that their fate was in the younger boy's hand now. "Proposition?" He echoed, hope started to swell on his heart when he saw Naruto reaching out a hand to them.

Naruto nodded, "You have nowhere to go now… and you have no means to escape Danzou's clutches on your own." He stated solemnly, "I… we can help you."

The older boy swallowed, they were in a pinch now but he was not born yesterday to be so naively accepting of help from someone they tried to kill just a moment ago. "What's the catch?" He asked curiously, "There's no way you'll help us without a boon or sort."

"True." Naruto admitted, there's no way the ROOT brothers would trust him if he offered help without a price. There should be a price for them to trust him. "But not at the moment…" He informed them. "First… come with me to The Tower and we will undo your Iwazaru no Fuuin first, and then we talk…"

Sai's eyes widened at that, "You can remove this…" Sai asked in disbelief, holding his mouth unconsciously.

"I do…" Naruto said with conviction in his voice, "We're the makers of that seal after all… your master stole it from us."

Shin swallowed, that was just too good to be true! "I still want to know why you're going to help us! What will you gain from this?!"

"… I would be lying if I say I want nothing from you." Naruto admitted honestly, "What I want is your trust… to follow me."

Sai looked at the blond wide eyed, looking at the offered hand and wondered why he wanted to reach out for it. Shin felt the same but could they trust this boy? "Where're we going?" Sai asked curiously and before he could stop his younger brother, Sai had grabbed the offered hand and seemed unwilling to let go anytime soon.

Shin was still skeptical but wherever Sai went, so did he. He reached out to grab the younger boy's hand, and realized Naruto's hand was very warm unlike theirs.

"To the new world… full of light…" He breathed out as he grasped their hands firmly in his. Danzou had trapped them in a shallow world of darkness, a twisted cocoon he created to his liking. The world out there was not perfect either, but… they would be no longer be emotionless weapons but their own person. This is their new world…

_"Welcome… to the world."_

Sai and Shin felt the warmth in their hands start to spread through their body, they were aware of the hardships they would face as the traitors of ROOT but… somehow they felt safer than ever when basked in this warmth. They couldn't fully trust Uzumaki Naruto yet, but for now he would follow him.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now... hopefully I did a good job to depict a good fight. It's not a curb-stomp battle at any rate since Naruto was a wreck and his opponents are too willing to die after putting a good enough fight. Power level wise Naruto have a LOT of upgrade since his confrontation with Aizen.
> 
> As for his elemental technique, I think I should explain that 'elemental affinity' training like Naruto did to create Rasenshuriken is not a must to use elemental technique. Uchihas are prime example... they mastered Goukakyu no Jutsu when they're young without any elemental affinity training. Normal elemental technique used hand seals to do both shape and elemental manipulation which is why it can be used without the exercise. Chidori while looks cool don't have much in shape manipulation... unlike Sasuke's variant of it. Rasen Shuriken in the other hand is purely manual shape manipulation which is why Naruto need the exercise.
> 
> BTW Shougekiha no Jutsu is a 'original technique' it's a basically a ring shaped Daitoppa and not just one directional attack.
> 
> Their kenjutsu techniques are taken from Samurai Deeper Kyo, so they're not my original. I would love to create some myself but I would rather to think of new fuuin than kenjutsu stuff.  
> Itachi's attack is taken from Hotaru while Shisui's is from Sarutobi Sasuke's... I contemplated that Shisui should have water element since his name is Shisui (Stagnant Water-what a name for an Uchiha) but discarded that idea for Lightning.  
> Translation of Hokuto Shicisen's technique is from Indonesian publisher... which I am not sure is 100% correct. Unfortunately I can't find other version... online one just say first star, second star and so on... Hokuto Shichisei's attack is wind elemental technique ^^
> 
> I am sure fans of HACK series recognize the last line, which is taken from Hack/GU. "Welcome to the world" indeed LOL  
> As you can see, in this story Naruto's therapy no jutsu is not 100% effective... then again they already lost the will to live so there's not much left to be saved.  
> In the last chapter I really sad a lot of you underestimate Danzou that much... as you can see in this chapter he has prepared a counter measure in case things go south. Too bad Itachi and Shisui caught the 'counter measure' team. There's no plan in this world that couldn't fail anyway...
> 
> My beta ask if Danzou would get in trouble with Hokage, well... Sandaime seems to let Danzou get away with a lot of things. However in this case later... it would be different, since it's not just between him and Sandaime.


	12. Whirling Chronicle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again in Unsealing Legacy! Hello dear readers, this is the next chapter you've been waiting for and it thanks to Garrorar for helping me to bring it for you in better quality!  
> At any rate this is some sort of intermission chapter, since as some reviewers commented is one heavy and packed with action chapter. The fight in last chapter is one of the best I ever wrote... but it's also long and tedious to write. I am sure my readers also bored and skip lots of it... ;_; I need practice to organize fighting scene in better arrangement. Even I who wrote it, keep falling asleep and bored...
> 
> So here is a breather for you! More funny but also serious!

**"Danzou, you alone are not Konoha."**  
Hakurei to Danzou, a message from Uzumaki Naruto

**12th Legacy: Whirling Chronicle**

Shin had to admit their somewhat desperate decision to accept Uzumaki Naruto's help was probably the best thing he ever did for his little brother. The moment he said yes, Uzumaki asked them to show the tracking seal Danzou put on them. He even ignored his teammates' protests that he needed to recover before attempting anything chakra related. Naruto pointed out that they had to do it now or risk their safety if Danzou found out Shin and Sai were alive. It only took the blond a few minutes scrutinizing the tracking seal on their collar bone, a slight pain from chakra burns, and just like that the tracking seal was gone. Naruto claimed the seal was indeed a high level one but the design was based on a standard tracking seal, and that anyone from the tower could crack it in record time. Fortunately due to Tower's isolated nature, Danzou was pretty much out of touch with the recent seal developments in the tower so he had no idea that his seal was already outdated.

Maybe for Uzumaki Naruto, what he did was as significant as slapping away a mosquito. But to the shinobi of Ne, the Ne Himo no Fuuin (Seal of Root Leash) was the shackle that becomes thicker and stronger like a growing root throughout their life. Shin and Sai knew they were not completely safe from their former master yet, but freedom from that seal felt like a burden on their shoulders was lifted. Shin hadn't even managed to say a thank you when Uchiha Shisui grabbed Naruto who seemed ready to keel over and carried the young seal master on his back, screaming about brats who don't know their own limits.

Uchiha Itachi asked them to follow, the ANBU subtly slowing his pace so he walked right behind them. The Uchiha heir's attitude of being vigilant around them did not offend Shin, since just a while ago they were trying their best to kill his friend after all. Sai and Shin were really surprised to see that Tou and Rui were captured. They were not as strong as their cousins Torune and Fuu, but they were still a part of Ne's elites. Sai calmly noted that Tou and Rui were unconscious and being the observant brat he was, Sai was puzzled as to why their condition was similar to the paralyzed state that the Iwazaru no Fuuin causes.

Shisui had a shit-eating grin on his face in response, "Of course it looks like that, they're really paralyzed because of the seal Danzou put on your tongue."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at them, and even without activating his Sharingan Shin could honestly say that the Uchiha heir didn't need them to be intimidating. "I am sure Danzou informed you that The Tower of Seals is off limits for you, do you know why?"

Sai shook his head, "We were only told that the consequences would be dire for us and Ne."

It seemed that Danzou really loved playing the cryptic bastard, Shisui thought. Then again Danzou was too proud to tell his subordinates about one of his greatest mishaps. Shisui pointed at the seal grafted bandage that bound the two elites of Ne, "See this seal? This is the reason why you Ne-folks are banned from The Tower." Shisui grinned, "This seal is a nasty trap for anyone who has the Iwazaru no Fuuin on their body, it forcefully activates your seal even if you're mute. I heard Danzou had the shame of a life time when Hakurei-dono sent him back his crippled agents who tried to spy on the Tower." Sai and Shin blanched at that, all of them were given a taste of the pain the seal could inflict after it was grafted on them. They didn't doubt it at all that continuous activation would cripple even the strongest Shinobi.

Sai swallowed while Shin paled at the memory, the pain he experienced when he almost slipped his agreement about Sai with Danzou was immense. And judging from constant spasms that ran through the elite's bodies, Shin knew they had to be feeling the pain continuously. And from the look the Uchiha cousins gave them, Shin and Sai weren't stupid to be oblivious of the implied threat. If they dare to betray Naruto, they would face the same fate as Tou and Rui.

"Don't worry, we kept the effect to a minimum to keep them unconscious. They're in no danger of dying." Itachi stated. "This is the seal called **Kannon no Ōkanno Fuuin-** Kannon's crown seal... "Itachi continued, "A fitting name, don't you think?"

A testament of how the Tower, especially the Shiomitsu clan loved to slight those who dared to make an enemy out of them. Danzou in particular was their favorite target. This ward type seal was named after the mythological crown Goddess Kannon used on Son Goku to control him, basically a crown to control an arrogant monkey like Danzou as Hakurei put it. That was one rare moment where he and Shisui were thoroughly scared out of their wits by Hakurei who was five times older than they were. The old seal master had a borderline psychotic smile as he regaled the tale of how red Danzou was when he and his twin brother told the old war hawk that the tower was off limits and Danzou was welcomed to try. Also, because Danzou keyed in his chakra to the Iwazaru no Fuuin, which requires him to have a control seal engraved on his body, the ward would affect the old war hawk too. Danzou of course never tried his luck. The old cripple tried to get around the seal for years but so far he never succeeded. Danzou was proficient in the sealing arts, but he was no match to Hakurei. Sarutobi was thoroughly confused as to why the twins kept asking him to extend an invitation to Danzou for tea ever since, or why his rival fumed whenever he gave the message. Of course it didn't take long for the Sandaime to find out, and the old kage wisely kept it to himself.

* * *

**Konoha, Hokage's Tower**

"This is unreasonable." Hiruzen gritted out to his old friend and comrade, though after everything they had gone through the Sandaime didn't know if he could still call Hakurei as such and vice versa.

Hakurei, being the old manipulative bastard he was didn't back down even when the Sandaime started leaking killing intent. "It's reasonable." Hakurei retorted, "Naruto-sama doesn't need distractions."

"You just want to keep him attached to The Tower and your people, cutting his ties with Konoha!" The Sandaime spat in anger, "You have no right! Kakashi and Jiraiya have the right be in his life, Kakashi was like a surrogate son to Minato and Jiraiya is his godfather!"

The seal master snorted, "Cutting his ties with Konoha? You think so lowly of me now, Hiruzen?" He shook his head, "I have not forbidden him to be a Shinobi of Konoha, or become a friend of Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui. Don't you forget Hiruzen; my clan is a vassal of the Uzumaki. I have no right to dictate his life! If Naruto-sama wants to protect this ungrateful village, then so be it. I doubt I could convince him to do otherwise… in spite of everything, this place is his home."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed at that, "And yet you requested me to withhold information about Naruto from Kakashi and Jiraiya… to tell them nothing other than that he was safe and sound in Konoha."

Hakurei crossed his arms, "What's the difference from what you've told them? I know they never tried to inquire more than you told him of his life!" Sarutobi flinched at that, "They fear the guilt that would consume them if they know… that they abandoned him to hateful villagers that couldn't differentiate between the prison and prisoner!"

"I told them to stay away! How easy did you think it would be to put two and two together if they're involved with a blond blue eyed child?!" The Sandaime gritted out. "It would put Naruto-kun in danger!"

"Of course!" Hakurei agreed in sardonic tone, "The villagers of Konoha are much dumber than our enemies that they couldn't see that! Ha!" He barked a laugh that eerily reminded Sarutobi of Hashirama-sama when he was drunk.

Sarutobi gritted his teeth, "You couldn't compare them, and the villagers couldn't even bear to look at Naruto's face to…"

Hakurei slammed his fist on his desk, "There you say it! Did that Hatake brat and Jiraiya ever told you how much it pains them to see Naruto-sama? I bet they couldn't! I don't know them, I admit… but their absence from Naruto-sama's life tells me that much! You order them to stay away? Since when… did you think that two of the most brilliant shinobi in Konoha couldn't get around of that simple restriction? They probably didn't even put up a fight when you asked them!"

The Sandaime ran his fingers through his wrinkled face, ashamed that he couldn't defend Jiraiya and Kakashi. Though to be fair, there's nothing to defend. "Hakurei… while it's understandable you don't want them to be anywhere near Naruto-kun, the decision is still Naruto-kun's… if one day…"

Hakurei snorted, "Of course that's if that one day ever comes, I wouldn't prevent them… however… if they want to be in his life they have to earn that right and not just take it for granted because of who they were to Naruto-sama's parents."

"They're…"The Sandaime trailed off.

"Nobodies who had done nothing for Naruto-sama." Hakurei cut the old kage off, "Their relationship with Minato-kun and Kushina-sama is meaningless to me the moment they chose to live in bliss of ignorance of Naruto-sama's suffering."

Sarutobi clenched his fist, he knew that but whenever someone tells him to his face it was still painful to accept. Kakashi was still grieving, and even when he was barely able to hold himself together Sarutobi couldn't imagine how Kakashi could bear to look at the splitting image of his sensei and Kushina. Jiraiya… was faring better than Kakashi, but the sannin was still wallowing in guilt for not being there when Minato died. Both of them saw Naruto as a reminder of their loss.

"Very well…" He conceded reluctantly, "I will do as you say Hakurei, as long as you do the same."

Hakurei nodded, "Of course, unlike your villagers… I know of my obligations."

Sarutobi sighed wearily, "It seems you've taking a liking in guilt-tripping me, Hakurei…"

He snorted, "I don't… but unfortunately everything concerning my brother..." Sarutobi flinched, "And Naruto-sama… are things that give you guilt. Guilt that you won't overcome anytime soon." He shook his head, "You have made a lot of mistakes Sarutobi and I don't know if I could ever forgive you, but you have to know one thing…"

"… What is it?"

"I will never betray Naruto-sama, and in extension Konoha. I won't betray Konoha, for his sake." He stated solemnly, "Be grateful to Naruto-sama for that."

"I owe Naruto-kun too much already… I guess I will start to pay the debt in mine and Konoha's behalf."

Hakurei snorted, "About time."

* * *

 **Koishi no Kuni (** Country of Pebbles)

They took a detour to a small village, renting a room to rest for the night. Shin and Sai were tasked to carry Rui and Tou to their room Shinobi style-via a window so they wouldn't need to waste chakra to disguise their captives. They rented one big room enough for five people, Tou and Rui didn't count since Shisui made sure they wouldn't wake up anytime soon. Shin was really glad he and Sai weren't in their position now, since on top of the **Kannon no Ōkanno Fuuin-** Kannon's crown seal, Uchiha Shisui placed a chakra suppression seal, a tracking seal, and any number of seals you could name to be placed on prisoners. Shinobi could never be too careful, but they were really going overboard with their paranoia especially if the concerned captives were out cold. Shin was sure that even if Tou and Rui could wake up now, it was next to impossible for them to escape.

The Uchiha cousins were really dangerous people, Shin thought. He quickly amended that when Shisui placed the stack of seals back into one of Naruto's storage seals, wondering out loud if they had used up all the types of seals that Naruto prepared in case of having captives. Sai and Shin at the same time looked at the sleeping Uzumaki Naruto in disbelief. He never struck them as someone who was paranoid enough to be this crazily prepared, especially with how reckless he fought and how he lectured his enemies in the heat of battle. On top of that, he easily offered help to someone who just tried to kill him, going as far as providing asylum even.

Then again, you couldn't judge Shinobi from their cover.

The said Uzumaki Naruto was pretty much out of commission though. It seemed in spite of being a jinchuuriki and an Uzumaki the blond was not infallible. The fight was really taking a toll on the Uzumaki's heir, his superficial wounds were healing nicely but the stress his chakra coils suffered have caused a fever and immense pain. Sai and Shin were worried but they didn't dare come close because the Uchihas looked ready to kill them if they ever did. The Uchiha cousins fussed over the blond in a subtle but creepily mother-hen-ish manner. In spite of everything they were sure Uzumaki Naruto was not in danger of dying, so they watched in thorough bemusement at the scene.

Uchiha Itachi especially – and there's really only one word for it – _hovered._ Uchiha Shisui at least while being worried gave the Uzumaki his space, Shisui eventually chose to tend to their captives to make sure the seals were working properly, and not in danger of dying. Uchiha Itachi in the other hand was close to hysterics in spite of the Uchiha's signature stoic face. The Uchiha sat beside Naruto's futon, a slight crease in his brow as he all but catered to Naruto's needs without the blond ever opening his mouth to request anything, a change of clothes, a wet cloth for compress, wiping sweat, drinks and so on.

"Itachi…" Naruto opened his eyes slowly, one of his eyes closed as Itachi wiped the sweat near his eyebrow. "It's getting late… you need to rest too..."

The Uchiha heir frowned, "I would be fine." His voice was even, but Naruto could tell Itachi was being stubborn.

Naruto sighed wearily at that, "Itachi… don't be stubborn, you're even weaker than Shisui in terms of stamina… if you force yourself you'll not be in top condition for travel." Naruto could hear Shin's breath hitch even though he was sitting in far corner with Sai, the white haired boy probably found it funny Naruto chided _the_ Uchiha Itachi so bluntly like that.

Itachi opened his mouth to protest but Shisui entered the room with two trays of food, "It's a bit late for dinner but I think we need to fill our stomachs with something before we sleep." He said as he put one tray near Itachi and Naruto, the other was placed near the surrogate brothers. "You guys should eat too, it's just porridge, hot spring boiled eggs and pickled radish though."

Shin beamed as he bowed to Shisui in gratitude followed by Sai, "Thanks!"

In another corner of the room Naruto scowled, "Itachi." He began, glaring at the spoon that shoved in front of his mouth by Itachi. "I can eat by myself."

"Your arm is fractured, remember?" Itachi pointed out.

"It's not my dominant arm!" Naruto retorted with a huff.

"Don't be stubborn." Itachi said, echoing Naruto's words from before. "Just eat."

Naruto flushed a deep red, "Look who's talking!" He pointed an accused finger at the Uchiha, and Itachi took his chance to shove the spoon on Naruto's mouth. "Hmph!"

In the end after arguing and failing to snatch the spoon from Itachi's hand for five minutes, Naruto gave in and let Itachi feed him... He never got sick before so he never had the chance, and even though his vassals catered to his needs whenever he asked–which was once in a blue moon–it was not the same. It was embarrassing but Naruto couldn't help but feel happy to be spoiled once in a while.

In spite of the indignant look he had on his face, Itachi was glad that Naruto allowed himself to be spoiled for once. Naruto had always tried to be independent when it comes to his needs. Even though he had everyone in the tower willing to cater his needs, Itachi knew that Naruto rarely asked for anything. He cooks, cleans, washes on his own, just like he had always done since the Hokage allowed him to live by himself. Itachi himself was rarely spoiled by his parents, and he grew up so fast that he became an adult by Shinobi standards the moment he became genin. Naruto on the other hand was simply never used to being spoiled by anyone, and was unfortunate enough to mature before he ever had the chance.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the faint smile on Itachi's face, a silent query of what he was smiling for. Itachi just chuckled softly as he gave Naruto another spoonful of porridge, and Naruto understood Itachi was happier than he was for this situation. Itachi was so weird sometimes, not that he disagreed. It felt… nice.

* * *

**Hi No Kuni's border, 2 hours journey from Konoha**

"So… Naruto, we got two ex-Ne brats and two lackeys with us." Shisui said to Naruto who was hitching a ride on Itachi's back.

After a lot of arguments on their part, Naruto gave in and let Itachi help him on the way back since he was not in a prime condition to travel. Naruto had recovered from his wounds but he still had a fever and would often get slightly dizzy, unfortunately they couldn't afford another day to rest on the road. There are still problems ahead concerning their captives though.

"What's our plan?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the genjutsu expert, "We have a plan?"

"We do?" Itachi chimed in.

Shisui's left eye twitched at the deadpan response from his teammates; sometimes they were so alike that it was annoying. "We should! Why bring those four if we don't? How the hell do we explain them to the Shinobi doing gate duty?!"

The blond rolled his eyes, "Logically we'd use a backdoor and use kage-bunshin to walk through the front gate to avoid suspicion."

Shisui blinked owlishly at that, "I thought you didn't have a plan?!" He asked in an incredulous tone.

"Shisui… that's not really a plan as much as it's just the logical thing to do when you have extra baggage and don't want to explain the circumstances of how you got it." Itachi pointed out in solemn tone.

The curly haired Uchiha scowled, "Not everyone can be you and Naruto." He mumbled under his breath, "Aah… at least that's one problem out of the way." He deadpanned.

Shin who was walking with Sai a few steps ahead from them rolled his eyes, "So now we're extra baggage." He grumbled in annoyed tone, _man… Rui is heavy!_

Sai who had Tou on his back nodded in agreement, "We are."

Two hours later after their kage bunshin greeted the sleepy guards, Naruto and his team used one of Shiomitsu's secret passages to reach the tower. Tokusa and Shion caught up with them mid-way to check on their condition. The Shiomitsus were enraged upon knowing Naruto's condition and would have gotten in on another argument with the Uchihas but Naruto chided them before they could. They had more pressing concerns in hand now. Shion in particular was hysteric that their master wanted to bring Ne members to the Tower. Tokusa was not sure it was a good idea either, but it was their young master's wish.

"We owe Uzumaki-san our life." Shin stated calmly, "I understand that you can't trust us, but we have nowhere to go and we're already dead to _that man_."

Sai nodded hesitantly. "Nii-san is right."

Shion frowned at them, "As if we can just…" He trailed off.

"Besides!" Shin cut him off, "We're damn weaker than you all! I am sure anyone here can kill us even in their sleep! Not to mention Uchiha Shisui confiscated our weapons, so we're really helpless now!" He declared proudly.

"…" Sai stared at his surrogate brother and wondered if Shin was losing his sanity.

"You know…" Shisui began, "There's nothing to be so proud about your current condition."

"I am not!" Shin agreed. "I am just telling the truth!"

Tokusa's left eye twitched, "You don't sounds like someone helpless for sure."

Shion rubbed his head. "So there's someone like this in that man's organization… "

Tokusa stared at Shin in amazement, "Why are you not brain dead yet in Ne?" He wondered out loud.

"Because I'm awesome?" Shin guessed.

At moment all of them sans Naruto and the ex-Ne thought, _no wonder Danzou wanted him dead._

"At any rate..." Naruto trailed off, "Shion, we need you to place a barrier on them. If not they won't be able to enter the tower."

Shion hesitated but as a Shiomitsu, he was a vassal of the Uzumaki and would obey their commands. "As you wish... young master." Shion was a blacksmith seal master like other Shiomitsu clan members, and he was the first disciple of Hakurei. While he was a formidable combat seal master himself, he was a seal master that specialized in creating barriers, which are called Kekkaishi.

Shion ordered Sai and Shin to show him their backs, which made the two stiffen. Shinobi don't expose their backs so easily, and it was hard to fight their ingrained instincts as Shion's brush painted a seal on their backs. "Please relax." Shion instructed coolly, "The next procedure would be slightly unpleasant." The seal master formed four hand seals, Ox-Tori-Snake-Dragon!

" **Kesshō shōheki no Fuuin** -Crystal Barrier Seal!"

Shin and Sai gasped when Shion slammed his chakra-coated hands on their backs and they were sent sprawling to the ground. Shisui couldn't help but burst to a fit of laughter when he saw the two had their faces comically planted on the ground. "Ha ha ha ha ha!"

The brothers groaned in pain as they stood up, their eyebrows twitched when they saw particles of chakra glimmering above their skin. "What the hell is this?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Shisui laughed louder, tears pooling on the corner of his onyx eyes. "You gave them bishie sparkles!"

Shion turned at Shisui with murderous look on his face, "I beg your pardon?" He snarled.

The curly haired Uchiha snorted, "My sides hurt! Seriously Shion! I didn't know there's a seal to give someone bishie sparkles! And here I thought it's only a privilege of bishies like Itachi!"

Itachi raised an eyebrow, "Since when have I ever sparkled?" He wondered out loud.

"Shion-niisan is the best kekkaishi of the tower!" Tokusa roared at his rival, "How dare you insult our barrier technique!"

"Geez! Can't you take a joke! I swear sometimes you're worse than the majority of my clan, have you no sense of humor?" Shisui asked cheerfully.

Naruto sighed, and decided to interrupt before they got into another argument. "Your bickering makes my headache worse, can you please speak softer?" The Shiomitsu clamped their mouths shut, horrified that they made their master even more uncomfortable. Shisui quieted down but snickered at the Shiomitsu's horrified face. "Shion... do the same to the other two. We can't have them crippled because of our ward..." Naruto motioned to Tou and Rui, "Make sure the other suppressant seals are still in place... we don't need them waking up anytime soon."

"Hai! Naruto-sama!" Tokusa and Shion chorused.

* * *

**The Tower of Sealing (Fuuin no Tou)**

It took Naruto less than half an hour to explain the situation and how he predicted Danzou could react, which would trouble both The Tower and Uchiha clan if they acted recklessly. The Uchiha cousins watched with a sense of trepidation when Naruto mischievously leaned in and whispered something to Hakurei's ear conspiratorially, earning a smirk from the aged seal master.

"I don't see why not?" Hakurei said with a voice that was far too calm for someone who just received shocking news of how his master was attacked and brought back two defected Ne kids and two captives to boot. Shin and Sai gaped at the old seal master, he granted their request for asylum so easily! They thought the tower hated Ne with passion and yet they were off of the hook just like that?

Hakurei sighed wearily, "Of course... we're going to be putting a tracking seal and other standard seals for captives under probation... we also can't let you out of our tower for at least..." He trailed off, "A year or so? It depends on how you behave of course."

Naruto who insisted to be present in Hakurei's office smiled at his oldest vassal, "Thank you Hakurei..."

The old seal master crossed his arms, "Well... I can see your reason to give asylum to Sai-kun, young master..."

"That's not my only reason you know..." Naruto murmured with a sigh. "He and his brother need it, and I couldn't let them be discarded on Danzou's whim..."

Hakurei cleared his throat, and then looked at the puzzled ex-Ne children. "First of all... you should know that you received asylum in our tower because of Naruto-sama's generosity." He stated firmly.

Naruto groaned, "Hakurei... can we please just get on with it."

"Of course young master." Hakurei replied with a smile, "That's the first reason, second... it's because of Sai's unique skill... " The painter shinobi blinked owlishly at that, "I am sure that Danzou told you, animating ink is unique to you alone." Sai nodded hesitantly at that, "That's a lie, there's used to be a small clan in Uzushiogakure, seal masters who specialize in animating ink... the Sanseki clan. They're a small clan but close to the Uzumaki and Shiomitsu clans... when the village fell... they left together with another half of my clan that was supposed to arrive a few years after mine to Konoha… but they were attacked and separated." He shook his head sadly, "You're probably one of the last of them..."

Sai's eyes went wide at that, "I have a clan?"

Naruto smiled at the pale skinned boy, "Yes of course... you do."

Shion who stood beside Hakurei's chair blanched, "Shishou... you don't mean that Danzou, he..."

The blond sighed, "I suspected as much when I saw Sai for the first time..."

Itachi and Shisui looked at each other, frowning at the implication. Hakurei nodded, "Danzou has been poaching children since forever, but I thought he is smart enough to limit himself to war orphans... " He gritted his teeth, "I wouldn't put it past him since if he dared to poach from the Aburame and Yamanaka, he won't hesitate to steal Sai from survivors of Uzushiogakure..." Of course he didn't dismiss the possibility that Danzou was involved in the attack that separated his clan from the Sanseki. He recalled the rivalry between Danzou and Hiruzen was at its peak when Uzushio fell.

"So my parents are..." Sai murmured hesitantly.

Hakurei sighed wearily, "Danzou likes his recruits to be as young as possible, easy to mold to his liking..." One thing he shared with Hiruzen's traitorous student. "The Sanseki clan is relatively unknown outside of Uzushio..." And they were meant to be that way since they mostly work in reconnaissance missions, "If they had gone to hiding like the rest of Uzushio's survivors, it is likely that Danzou wouldn't hesitate to eliminate the adults so the trace of missing children is perfectly erased."

Shin hugged Sai comfortingly, he was glad Sai could find his origins but it was sad to know their former master killed their parents to get them. Sai didn't cry but Shin could tell the younger boy was shaken to the core by the revelation.

"Your name is Shin right?" Hakurei inquired.

Shin nodded, his arms still encircled around his brother protectively. "Yes... let me guess, my hair color is a common trait of a certain clan in Kiri or something?" He wondered out loud, at Hakurei's nod he sighed. "I have been told the color is unusual in Fire Country." His bluish grey hair was not common in Hi no Kuni but in Mizu no Kuni. It was likely that he wasn't from this country either, and considering Kiri's state of civil war... It's very likely his history was not so different from Sai's.

"I see..." Hakurei sighed, "Yes, I agree that you probably hailed from Kiri. Danzou has no bounds when it comes to recruiting for his foundation." He shook his head exasperatedly. "Considering Kiri's state... and other factors, I suggest you to not try to look for your clan. An unusual hair color usually meant a bloodline limit, and the Mizukage has recently gone mad and decided to slaughter all clans with bloodlines..."

Shin shook his head frantically, "Of course not, I will always be with Sai. Even though it's a bit sad that I probably would never meet my biological family, I have decided to be Sai's brother!"

"Nii-san..." Sai murmured, "Are you sure?"

"Of course! Do you think I have a heart to leave my beloved little brother for unknown family I have in bloody mist?" He asked in incredulous tone, "Not in thousand years!"

Hakurei watched Shin fussed over his surrogate brother, reminding him of his late brother Sangetsu. These children were so lucky they got a chance to start a new life after what Danzou had done to them, looking at the Yamanaka and Aburame they captured however, Hakurei was not sure if those two could ever live a normal life.

He cleared his throat, "Naruto-sama, what would you like me to do?" Hakurei asked in solemn tone.

His young master was still weak from the ordeal he had been put through yesterday, but he could see determination in those blue eyes. A sharp mind and a benevolent heart that made his clan fall in love with their young master. "Do your best Hakurei." He said with knowing smile.

The old seal master flashed a somewhat childish grin in response, "As you wish young master… I presume we will approach Yamanaka Inoichi and Aburame Shibi after I am done with a certain someone?"

Naruto laughed softly at that, "Ha ha ha… of course."

"Naruto-kun?" Itachi called, "You're not thinking to ask Hakurei-dono to…"

Hakurei grabbed the broad sword he hung on the wall of his office, the sword's length rivaled Tenrou with a thicker handle and a wider one edged blade. Shisui whistled when Hakurei took his arms off of his kimono sleeve, revealing a muscled and scarred body beneath. Shion stuttered at his teacher, "Shishou! You can't possibly be thinking of…"

"Remember your age!" Tokusa chimed in.

"Shut up brats!" Hakurei roared, hoisting his heavy blade against his shoulder. "You think I can stay idle after what that old cripple did to our master! I gotta go take him down a peg or two!" In his daily dealings Hakurei was a calm and composed sealing division's leader, but in private he was temperamental, boisterous and could swear like a sailor.

Shisui blinked owlishly, "Eh… in case you've forgotten, you're the same age as…hmph!" Itachi covered Shisui's mouth just in time before his cousin could mouth off the temperamental seal master. Hakurei bowed to his young master who was still a bit red on the face because of his fever and then went out of his office with triumphant look.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed then turned to Sai and Shin, "Tokusa, please show them a room to rest… and Shion, make a preparation to undo their **Iwazaru no Fuuin**." He shot the two an apologetic look, "The preparation will take the whole day, and until then… we have to keep you confined in a warded room. Shion's barrier will run out soon and it takes a lot of chakra…" It would be a long wait for them, and Naruto felt guilty he had to treat them like prisoners but they had no choice. They couldn't afford to deactivate the **Kannon no Ōkanno Fuuin-** Kannon's crown seal, and if they were exposed for even a moment to the wards, Shin and Sai would be in a lot of pain.

Sai shook his head, "Uzumaki-san, you have already helped us a lot, waiting for one more day is no trouble for us…"

Shin bobbed his head up and down, "Yeah! We've already been locked for three days without food and water to develop our resistance! This would be a piece of cake! Waiting for one more…" He trailed off then clamped his mouth shut.

All the Shinobi in the room unconsciously emitted killing intent at the story Shin unintentionally blurted out. Shinobi or not, that kind of training was simply inhuman for children as young as they were. Shin didn't say anything as he and his brother were led by Tokusa to their room to rest, but all of them knew there must have been children that didn't survive Danzou's harsh training. Children died all the time in the Shinobi world, especially during war. However in case of Ne's children, they had no say in their life at all and died for an ideal that's not theirs. It was sad that in a way Ne exists because Konoha needed them, and in the process their village gave a great deal of leeway in their dealings, quite possibly far too much leeway.

* * *

**Hokage's Tower**

Hatake Kakashi was tired of living sometimes. It was a sick blessing that his father's suicide prevented him from doing the same. Kakashi didn't want to choose that easy way out of his misery. He had lost so many people in his life to a point that he was so tired of it, the reason he joined ANBU was to save his comrades in the most dangerous missions available to Konoha ANBUs. To prove that Kakashi Hatake who had failed to save his teammates and sensei was still capable of protecting his comrades.

He just wanted a reason to keep living after so many mistakes that cost him their lives, Obito, Rin and Minato-sensei. Obito and Rin were dead because of his arrogance and carelessness. You would think after Obito's death, Kakashi would have learned that a mission could easily go south and beyond. He had to fuck up again in a simple reconnaissance mission and Kiri Shinobi captured Rin. He managed to save Rin from Kiri's clutches a few days later, or so he thought but when he found out from Rin what they had done to her, he knew he had once again failed to protect his teammate.

Kiri had made her a jinchuuriki, one with a timer seal that would fail the moment they reached Konoha's border. Rin pleaded that she was just their pawn now, so he should kill her to protect Konoha. How could she ask him to break his promise to Obito? Even if it's for Konoha's sake?  
In the end he killed Rin, or rather she made him do it. Kakashi would be lying if a part of him wasn't relieved by her choice. Sometimes to Shinobi, death was just a better option than living, and this was one of those moments. Rin accepted his killing blow, and he even saw her nod in gratitude.

Everything went black after that. Kakashi expected him to be killed there but at least he and Rin would be dead to suffer whatever the pissed off Kiri nins were going to put them through. He regretted that he didn't have enough chakra left to destroy Obito's sharingan though, but Obito would have chosen to save Rin rather than ensuring his eyes didn't fall to enemy hands. He would apologize to Obito later in the afterlife.

Miraculously after he lost consciousness from shock and chakra exhaustion, Rin's body was still there and the Kiri team was dead, mauled by something beyond recognition. Kakashi brought Rin's body with him to Konoha, puzzling over miracle that left him alive.

He thought he was cursed, the Kyuubi had killed Minato-sensei and Kushina-neesan, why did everyone have to die while he was left alive? Did someone above hate him so much that they let him live in this world to keep failing to protect those he held dear?

Kakashi decided to avoid his sensei's legacy, fearing the curse would follow and the baby would die on him too. It was an excuse of course; he knew but he couldn't help it. When Naruto was four, he braced himself to at least go to take a look at him in the orphanage. It was painful to see the boy; he looked so much like his parents, and he had bubbly and cheerful personality like Obito and Kushina. It was as if the boy existed to torture him. It was not Naruto's fault to be born the way he was, but Kakashi feared for his sanity if he was too close and lost Naruto too. He was still too weak, too pitiful to enter Naruto's life. The Hokage as if knowing of his dilemma forbid him to be in direct contact with Naruto, fearing someone would make the connection between Yondaime's legacy and his last surviving student. Kakashi didn't know if he hated the Sandaime or was grateful to him for it.

Today was the first time he returned to Konoha after six months, a rare long term ANBU mission that required him to be in Hi no Kuni's borders. As usual whenever he reported to the Hokage he asked about Naruto's whereabouts, nothing detailed, as long as he knew his sensei's son was alive and breathing he could live with that. He didn't want to know what kind of shitty childhood Naruto had to go through because of his jinchuuriki status; he didn't want to hope to be there for Naruto, and risk failing to protect his precious person again.

However since the last year the Hokage started to act a little weird whenever he asked, usually the Sandaime _tried_ to go add little details about Naruto's life, which he mostly tried to tune out. Such as the boy's latest prank, how much ramen he could inhale in one go, or how bad he was doing in class and so on. However since last year the old kage just answered his query curtly, Naruto was fine and well cared for, no more details. The last time he heard of Naruto, the boy started to take his education seriously and became a history buff for some unexplainable reason.

As far as Kakashi concerned that was a sign Naruto was doing well in life, and he didn't need Kakashi to be there for him. Good for both of them then.

While one of his best Shinobi was in the bliss of ignorance after leaving his office, Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. He was feeling old and tired more than ever, hopefully there's no more trouble coming their way for a long while. He was not sure if he could survive the next conflict with his sanity intact.

Unfortunately for Sarutobi Hiruzen, he had no idea what's going to happen between his two old comrades.

* * *

**Ne's Headquarters**

Danzou scowled when he received the intel about his subordinate's confrontation with Uzumaki Naruto and his Uchiha teammates. He didn't mind that none of the Ne trainees he sent survived the confrontation, but the blasted Uchihas killed his fully pledged Shinobi and left only three to return to him. Unfortunately the three were assigned to separate the jinchuuriki away from the Uchiha, so they had no idea of what happened in confrontation between the failures he sent and the jinchuuriki.

As if that's not bad enough he lost Aburame Tou and Yamanaka Rui. Contrary to what Sarutobi believed, he never stole children from the Aburame and Yamanaka clans. Both clans were prominent in Konoha, and considered as nobility in their village while the other was vassal of a noble clan. However there are members of both clans who believed in his vision of Konoha. They're loyal to him and ideal Konoha he strived for, and he used them for the greater good of Konoha. They were as frustrated as he was with the softhearted Sarutobi, and that their clan heads were loyal to someone like him.

He was snapped out of his musings when the door of his office was torn open by a familiar broad sword, and he was greeted by the maniacal grin of his old enemy. "Shiomitsu… Hakurei." The jinchuuriki made it back to the tower it seemed, and his lapdog was pissed.

"Yo… Danzou! It's been a long while since the last time I saw your ugly face." The Shiomitsu said as one of his legs stepped on Danzou's desk.

Danzou sighed as he could see the body trail Hakurei made on the way from the destroyed door. He wondered how a crude man like Hakurei managed to get here without triggering a single alarm. Then again this man was someone he considered his and Hiruzen's equal. He was also a formidable combat seal master, Danzou was sure Hakurei could give him or Hiruzen the run for their money.

"I see you have come because my boys roughed up your precious prince a little?" Danzou asked in saccharine tone.

Hakurei snorted at that, the way Danzou called his puppets sounded like they were precious enough for the war hawk to care for their fates. "Oh please… do you have any idea who are you dealing with?" He asked testily as he brought down his sword on Danzou.

"I can say the same to you…" Danzou returned, blocking Hakurei's broadsword with his kunai. Danzou scowled at the heavy blow that almost sent him sprawling on the ground but before Hakurei cut him in two, Danzou jumped away from the seal master. His eyes narrowed, his precious mahogany table was being crushed under Hakurei's foot by each passing second. "A brute as always Hakurei… one couldn't tell what kind of Shinobi you are judging from how you engrossed yourselves in servitude to Uzumaki clan and the Tower."

"Heh! Long ago… when you still have a good head on your shoulders…" Hakurei droned, "I remember I was sent frequently by Mito-sama to support your team in the front lines." He said in a nostalgic tone, his eyes never leaving Danzou, "I still remember Kagami's stupid jokes, his son has the same terrible sense of humor by the way… "

Danzou frowned at the name of his deceased teammate, "If you're here just to talk about old days, just leave…"

Hakurei laughed softly, "Hit a nerve, didn't I? You're always a jealous one… especially of Hiruzen and Kagami, Tobirama-sama was always fond of those two…" Looking at Danzou's growing ire Hakurei dropped the issue, "But hey! I am not here to poke on your unresolved inferiority complex… I am here about two Ne boys you sent after my young master."

"Which one?" Danzou asked, although he had a feeling he knew which of them Hakurei was talking about.

"The pale skinned boy code named Sai and his brother Shin." Hakurei said as Danzou's desk was eventually crushed beyond repair under the pressure of his foot, and Danzou knew then that Hakurei was furious. "You dare to poach from _us_ , you should be ashamed as a Konoha-nin to steal from Uzushio." Hakurei roared furiously.

* * *

**The Tower of Sealing (Fuuin no Tou)**

"You just set Hakurei-dono on Danzou." Shisui muttered in disbelief for the fifth time since Hakurei left the tower. "Who are you, and what have you done to our sweet and fluffy Naruto?" He asked the blond accusingly.

Naruto scowled at that, since when he was he ever sweet and fluffy? He was not cotton candy! "For your information Shisui, regardless of what I say… Hakurei is close to blowing up as is, so I let him to confront Danzou on his own. The Shiomitsu may be my clan's vassals, but they can be as stubborn as the people of my clan." He huffed, "Besides, it's Hakurei! I trust him, there's nothing to worry about if it's him!" He chewed on a bunny shaped apple Yuzuriha cut thoughtfully for him. "If he and Danzou fought, you should worry about Danzou, not Hakurei."

Shisui rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well… I have to admit he is pretty cut out for an old guy." Man! He would love to have that kind of musculature!" Uchiha men unfortunately seemed to be incapable of developing that kind of build, even though most of them have fit bodies they seem to be built towards lean muscles instead of manly bulkiness that old man Hakurei has.

"Is that all you see? Muscle?" Naruto sweat-dropped at dreamy look Shisui had. "At any rate… Hakurei has dealt with Danzou for so long, if there's anyone who knows how to deal with that war hawk… it's either him or Hokage-sama." Though the Sandaime was too lenient most of the time when it comes to Danzou.

Itachi nodded in agreement, Out of all Shiomitsus, Hakurei was undoubtedly the oldest but also the most dangerous by miles. The first time Itachi met Hakurei, his instincts flared and he knew instantly that this was not the feeble old man he seems to be. He had also seen how the Sandaime interacts with Hakurei, and he knew the old Kage respects Hakurei as an old comrade and an equal. Age in the Shinobi world meant strength since you're good enough to survive for so long, especially in the case of the Sandaime's generation that had gone through not one but two world wars.

The Uchiha heir turned to his cousin, "By the way Shisui… how about that one Shinobi you put under your genjutsu?"

Shisui flashed him a victory sign, and tossed a scroll to Itachi. "Danzou probably never considered a prospecting someone might put his puppet under a strong genjutsu and force them to write down everything they know about their foundation."

Naruto shrugged at that, adjusting the compress on his forehead. "It's a good thing you keep that ability confidential to your clan and select few… if Danzou ever finds out, you're going to be in big trouble and I won't put it past him to try to steal your eyes…"

Shisui winced, "Oi oi… don't scare me Naruto."

"It's true." Itachi agreed, "You should be careful Shisui…" The Uchiha's scion joined in, "Not to mention his grudge against your father..."

Shisui looked a bit green at the prospect, "You know... I am more worried of the prospect of what someone like Danzou would do with my eyes rather than the stealing bit."

Okay... they might be going overboard with scaring Shisui, but it was a legitimate concern. "Shisui calm down... I will think of something for you alright?" Naruto assured the genjutsu expert, and then he frowned as something relevant crossed his mind. A certain clan who prided their seal for protecting their bloodline. "Which reminds me... the Hyuuga clan's request came in recently to renew the wards in their compound."

The Hyuuga had been pretty stubborn with their all-seeing eyes saying that they didn't need security seals, which backfired spectacularly when their heiress was almost kidnapped five years ago. The agreement the Hyuuga clan made was with the previous division leader, so Hyuuga Hiashi deemed it prudent that the Tower had to renew the wards the traitor designed for them. In fact the tower had been flooded with the same requests ever since the news of Aizen's betrayal was leaked to public. So far they managed to keep all the clan heads in line for the tower to work on a new seal design. It didn't help that each clan have different preferences and needs. The Inuzuka wanted no disruptions to their sense of smell and the barrier shouldn't make their canine partners feels caged. The Aburame wanted the same for their kikaichuu, and noted that the seals should not bring harm to their insects. The Hyuuga wanted the barrier to be easy on their eyes since for them the amount chakra emitted by conventionally strong barrier seals was irritating for their eyes to look at.

Naruto had his clones helping left and right whenever he could, and his missions usually consisted of warding noble houses for most of the time because everyone in Tower was occupied with the Konoha's clans' demand. Fortunately they were recruiting more people now from the regular shinobi force, and in a few years the number of seal masters both combat and non-combat effective would increase. Hopefully they would survive this busy period intact, and that Danzou would leave them alone for now _or_ else.

"Hyuuga?!" Shisui squeaked. "Don't they have that seal, which could seal their byakugan upon death?"

The blond jinchuuriki nodded, "I am reminded of them because the Hyuuga claim it's to protect their doujutsu." He shook his head at that, "What a load of bullshit, since the main house members are still a fair game if our enemy wants to steal their eyes, and what is stopping someone from subduing, then sedating the branch house members? Allowing their enemies to take their eyes when they're still alive?" He wondered out loud, shaking his head in dismay.

Shisui blinked owlishly at that, Itachi just stared at Naruto. The former was pretty obvious but the latter... **"Why did they never think of that?"** They chorused in amazement, half-shouting.

Naruto sweat-dropped at them, "Don't tell me you also never realized this _blatant_ loophole before?" He asked in incredulous tone.

Both Uchihas flushed, it was not like they were stupid but as part of a prestigious clan it had been ingrained in them to not criticize another clan's traditions. Not to mention the Hyuuga clan was pretty touchy when it comes to the Uchiha, some of them still believed that the sharingan originated from their byakugan, and that the Uchiha was beneath them. The Uchiha clan on the other hand couldn't care less of what Hyuuga thought of their doujutsu, especially since both the Senju and Uchiha were without a doubt descended from the Rikudo Sennin. Prodigies of the Uchiha clan like Itachi and Shisui if anything solidified the superiority of the Sharingan in the public's eyes. It wasn't like there are no prodigies in the Hyuuga clan but they were no match for Itachi and Shisui.

"We never really thought about it." Itachi confessed with an embarrassed face, "Our relationship with the Hyuuga is already as shaky as it is."

Naruto sighed at that, "Well... I definitely won't bring this up, especially if the purpose of this seal is to avoid family disputes... not to mention it will come out as an insult to their intelligence."

"But still..." Shisui said with dumbfounded voice, "Now you've said it, what they're doing really seems stupid."

Itachi shook his head, "The Hyuuga are not fools Shisui... the main house especially, as Naruto said... want to avoid family disputes. The other reason would be that the use of the seal on their own family is already a tradition they couldn't live without at this point... though branch house members undoubtedly bear a grudge against the main house."

Shisui huffed, "Our clan is probably not one big happy family, but hey! At least we have no blatant grudge on each other like Hyuuga! ha ha ha..."

Neither Naruto nor Itachi laughed at Shisui's attempt to joke to brighten up the mood because their topic was too depressing. Itachi thought that even though they didn't enslave their own family, they had a blood traitor that almost destroyed their village. Naruto on the other hand didn't laugh because of Itachi, and he knew the younger Uchiha was thinking about the Uchiha who orphaned him at birth.

"On a happier note, I now know what to research on for my next promotion..." Naruto beamed.

Shisui looked at him curiously, "A seal to protect bloodlines?"

"That's still too difficult for me... maybe in few years..." Naruto said with a sigh, "Besides... if I want to be promoted to 5th Dan before the end of this year I need something simpler!"

"You just got promoted to 3rd Dan two months ago!" Shisui pointed out in disbelief.

Naruto scoffed, "I want to get to 9th Dan before my tenth birthday!" He declared in an indignant tone, somehow his voice came out as a childish whine and Naruto flushed a deep red as he covered his mouth.

Itachi looked amused by his rare childish behavior but didn't call it out. "Why you're so in hurry to get your 9th Dan?"

"Well..." Naruto trailed off, embarrassed to explain his motive. "You know that _unofficially_ I am the leader of the tower right?" At their nod he continued, "It's just... even though it's unofficial, they respected me as such and yet... I am just 3rd Dan seal master... it doesn't matter if I want the position or not but the respect they give me, I don't feel like I deserve it." He confessed and he yelped when Shisui suddenly hugged him from behind.

"Thanks goodness! You're not completely beyond help!" Shisui wailed.

Naruto blinked owlishly, then cringed when he saw Shisui's nose start running. "Eew! Shisui! Get off me!" He pushed the Uchiha away. "And what do you mean beyond help?! You talk as if I am a mental case!"

"No you aren't!" Shisui denied vehemently, "It's just sometimes I think you've invented a different version of the Uchiha's stoic and smug mask whenever you put on your public face... you know... the 'I am polite, innocent, and I can't even kill a bug!' kind of mask."

Naruto clapped suddenly, catching a stray mosquito on his hands. "There, I killed one. No remorse for cutting its one week life span." He deadpanned. "I am cruel enough to make its already short life shorter."

Shisui sighed at Naruto's sarcastic retort, "Sometimes... you act like an Uchiha more than me." He leaned in conspiratorially, "Are you sure you're not actually our fourth cousin twice removed or something?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Considering that the Uzumaki is closely related to both the Senju and Uchiha, maybe..." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Itachi snorted at that, "Our family relations aside, I think you should work on your rank on your own pace Naruto..."

"Says someone who became ANBU at eleven." Naruto said jokingly, "And graduated earlier than me."

"You were promoted to Chuunin earlier than I was, and a field promotion to boot. And I didn't graduate earlier than you..." Itachi returned, "Technically we graduated at the same age even though you got your headband five months later."

Shisui groaned, "If you're done one upping one another... can we please move on to the moving speech Itachi was attempting earlier? Naruto, you ruined his speech."

"Really?" Naruto faked an innocent clueless face, "Did I?" He asked Itachi with the innocent curiosity of the eight year old that he was.

Itachi shrugged, "I don't know Naruto- _kun,_ Shisui is being his usual theatrical self again."

Unknown to the three laughing Shinobis, a seal master stood frozen in front of the door to Naruto's room. They would have noticed Shion if he was a hostile presence, but he wasn't and Shion forgot to breath the moment Shisui jokingly mentioned the probability that he was related to them. And while normally, a conversation in Naruto's living room wasn't loud enough to be heard outside, the Shiomitsu always had a keen sense of touch and hearing due to their blacksmith background.

The seal master continued his stride as if nothing was amiss, even though childhood memories of when he was four came back to haunt his mind. It was a memory of Namikaze Muramasa holding his one year old son, and his dark haired wife who was wearing a kimono with small uchiwa pattern. The kimono's pattern was not that shocking as much as how when his wife went to speak with Shion's mother, out of earshot, the eccentric Muramasa-ojiisan jokingly mentioned that: had his brother in laws lived three months longer he would have married into the Uchiha clan, the Namikaze line would have ended, and Minato would have been Uchiha Minato and be the first blond Uchiha ever.

Shion wondered if his master remembered that Namikaze Mayumi was an Uchiha, and then he recalled that Mayumi was one of few Uchiha that was considered ' _the odd one out'_ that sometimes popped up in the clan. So far there had been four cases like that, Mayumi, Minato's student, Shisui's father and Shisui himself. Considering he himself forgot that Mayumi was an Uchiha until just now even though he was old enough to remember her, it was very likely his master had also forgotten.

Then again a majority of the tower population who were old enough to know Muramasa _and_ his wife tends to forget their eccentric side, and eventually painted him as a kind and skilled blacksmith and seal master. It was not like they couldn't respect Muramasa's eccentricities, they simply couldn't afford to not forget the trauma. They also forgot most things about his wife because Mayumi was an airheaded wife who always supported her husband's _dreams_ no matter what. Muramasa in spite of all the saintly qualities he had sometimes defied logic and common sense when he puts his mind on something, and Mayumi would follow him to the end of the world to accomplish it. Like that time when he was ten and innocent, Muramasa-ojiisan wanted to figure out how to store rain clouds in storage scrolls and then... he had to...

On second thought, he shouldn't try to recall that incident EVER.

Thankfully Naruto-sama and Minato-kun didn't inherit Muramasa's eccentrics, and as for revealing that Naruto-sama was indeed _related_ to the Uchiha: third cousin to Itachi and third cousin twice removed to Shisui from his paternal grandmother to be exact.

"...I guess none of us could stomach recalling so many things... "He murmured in a daze, "I'll suggest to Master Hakurei to ask Uchiha-dono to tell Naruto-sama... he is not as scarred as we are about..." Shion stopped then recalled the incident in which he and Fugaku had to save little Minato from Muramasa's cooking experiment that took residence in their fridge, and there's that one time Fugaku was almost killed when Muramasa allowed Minato to play with Tenrou. Which was ironic considering that sword was Itachi's now and it seems that Fugaku conveniently forgot the sword that almost made him die young.

Nah... Fugaku could handle it! As long as no one reminded him that the long pretty sword little Minato swung around was in his son's possession...

* * *

**Ne's Headquarter**

Danzou gritted his teeth, how dare Hakurei tell him to be ashamed for what he had done for Konoha's greater good. Uzushio was no more, and it was in a Shinobi's nature to betray their allies for their village. "I found Sai in abandoned house somewhere near Swamp Country… I saved that child." He lied smoothly.

"Is that so? Should I thank you for rescuing that boy and training him to be your emotionless puppet? Or for you to send him to a suicide mission because Shin couldn't throw his emotions away?" Hakurei asked in an incredulous tone, "Do you have any idea how long my clan has tried to find any member of the Sanseki clan that was separated from us? How many nights of sleep Kushina-sama lost because her childhood friend's clan was gone?" He shook his head, "Then again there's no use telling you this, someone as hollow as you won't give a damn!"

"So you've come for revenge?" Danzou asked calmly.

"Revenge?" Hakurei echoed, "Is your death going to bring the Sanseki clan back? Or ease Naruto-sama's pain for putting your pitiful puppets out of their misery?! No! As much as I want to rid this world of you, I know you're not someone I can just remove of because I want to." Just imagine the political nightmare that would follow, and how much damage the shit Danzou accumulated for years would deal when exposed to the public. "All I want is for you to leave those two alone, and I will not kill or rat you out to Sarutobi."

Danzou snorted, "You speak as if killing me is a walk in the park."

Hakurei narrowed his dark green eyes at the scarred Shinobi, "The old you won't be a walk in the park, but the current you?" The old war hawk stiffened at that, "I am a chakra sensor Danzou, one of the best in my clan… I can tell that you've recently been messing with your body and right now you're still adapting with the changes, aren't you?" Hakurei sighed, "Why you can't just age gracefully like the rest of us is beyond me… "

"Not all of us have Uzushio's secret for longevity." Danzou retorted.

"You think there's such a secret?" Hakurei asked in an incredulous tone, "Aah… then again I stopped caring for your opinions the moment you stole Iwazaru no Fuuin from us."

The war hawk narrowed his eyes, "As you have been integrated to Konoha's force you should have used all resources you have for Konoha's sake, and yet… you keep it for yourselves and guard it jealously. We have avenged the fallen Uzushio in the second and third war… giving Iwa, Kiri and Kusa a devastating defeat and yet…"

Hakurei sighed at that, "Danzou… to you power is neither evil nor good, power is just power! In our long history as seal masters we have learned to draw line between good and bad, because failing to do so would just destroy us… the Iwazaru no Fuuin is just one of the many achievements we'd like to bury forever." He drawled in a sad voice, "If the life expectancy in your foundation wasn't so low, you would have notice it. The consequences of Iwazaru no Fuuin."

Danzou frowned, "What do you mean? There's no consequence whatsoever written on the scroll…"

"Because your agent stole only the application procedure and never bothered to read the research journal... it's on a separated section so you can't really blame that recklessness." Hakurei pointed out testily, "Do you really think that a seal so deeply rooted to the chakra coils and affects brain signals is without risk? Have any of your marked ops reach… say… their thirties? Or forties? Depending on how long they have the seal on them, slowly but steadily they would start to lose muscle function and eventually be permanently paralyzed."

If the revelation disturbed Danzou, the war hawk didn't show it. "… I see…"

"I guess it's a good thing that the life expectancy of your foundation is so low. Death is preferable to what they'd suffer as a side-effect of the Iwazaru no Fuuin." Hakurei intoned with a sigh, "Then again I can't imagine the present you to care…" He shook his head at that, "So do we have a deal about those two?"

Danzou contemplated his choice; while he did send those two to their deaths he still saw them as an asset. However their worth was just that much, Shin and Sai knew so little about their foundation at this point so there shouldn't be too much damage if he let Hakurei to have them. "Very well… they're yours."

Hakurei grinned at that, "Good and keep your word Danzou or…"

"Or…" Danzou echoed mockingly.

"I recall that you lost a boar and a bug recently…" Hakurei sang amusedly as he saw a sliver of shock on Danzou's lone eye. "I am sure you want them back, rest assured… we keep them healthy and well rested." The old seal master assured the leader of Ne, how he loved watching Danzou squirming like a worm under the sun. "But you see… there's no way I can just return them to you, in fact I am thinking of sending them back to their compound! Where they belong!"

"You dare?" Danzou snarled.

Hakurei snorted, "Nah… don't worry, I think we can work on a deal that will benefit us both." Danzou's frown seemed to add more wrinkles on his aged face as Hakurei droned on his so called deal. "Not really going to benefit you much, but hey! This deal will probably save you from the worse brunt of the combined wrath of the Yamanaka and Aburame."

"You realize there's a possibility Yamanaka Inoichi and Aburame Shibi won't agree to this deal you spoke of?" Danzou inquired, he was in disadvantage but he had to agree that what Hakurei offered would save Ne. He had no delusions that Hakurei wanted to help him at all, but the conflict that would result from his mishap with two prominent clans of Konoha would bring danger upon their village.

Hakurei scowled as he rested the tip of his sword against the ground, "Do you think I was born yesterday? I've been aware for a while that some peoples seem to love your ideals, and they're willing to betray their own clans for you." He spat venomously. "I am sure you're also aware that both Inoichi and Shibi aren't blind, heck-the former is the head of T&I division for god's sake! They probably know but could do nothing since you can't just pin the members of your clan down to see if they have a seal on their tongue!"

"Oh?" Danzou murmured, "So you think you can get them to agree on this?"

He nodded at that, "You owe me." Well Danzou owes his young master to be precise, but Danzou didn't need to know that.

Or that they would pocket a favor from both the Yamanaka and Aburame, which Danzou didn't need to know either. Shibi and Inoichi were aware of Ne's claw on their clan for quite some time, but unfortunately had no evidence or idea as to which of their clan members belonged to the foundation. It didn't help that former's clan members were generally stoic and unemotional (on the surface, that is) that Ne's members easily mingled in. Yamanakas on the other hand were all mind art experts but unlike most clans in Konoha had no compound but lived separately, so it was next to impossible for Inoichi to keep an eye on all of them even if he was not already busy enough in T&I division. The Tower was giving them help to get rid of rotten roots from their clans; it's a win-win situation.

"Very well…" Danzou caved in.

Hakurei turned around, but Danzou had no delusions that the seal master dropped his guard at all. "Oh, and one more thing.." Hakurei said as he was one step out of Danzou's office, "Someone asked me to remind you this." The old seal master uttered in tired voice.

**"Danzou, you alone are not Konoha."**

Danzou frowned at that, "If this is another sermon that Hiruzen is…"

"Since when have I ever been his messenger boy?" Hakurei cut him off in droning tone. "It doesn't matter if you have any idea of what that's supposed to mean…" Hakurei's voice echoed through the hallway as the seal master walked away from the room, **"At this point, you're beyond help in my book!"** He shouted with vigor, which made Danzou cringe. There's a reason why he hated the Uzu's refugees, they tend to lose control of their volume when their emotions get the better of them.

The war hawk sat back to his chair that was thankfully left intact, and for a moment contemplated what that line was supposed to remind him of. That all Shinobi and civilians were part of Konoha? Or maybe his foundation that the Hokage had no authority of wasn't part of Konoha? How foolish, why should he be bothered by what Hakurei said? His ideal is for Konoha's greater good, that's all there is to it.

* * *

**OMAKE**

Naruto had taken a number of C rank missions for the last few months and frankly it was getting on his nerves. The first five missions were nothing more than glorified seal warding. In which he was paired with either the Uchiha cousins or Shiomitsu siblings, sometimes both. Apparently with the latest boost in the sealing arts of Konoha, the village deemed it prudent to widen their field of service, which resulted in warding nobles' residences. It paid much better than a normal C rank because the clients were rich pompous nobles, however as far as Naruto was concerned it was just a slightly better D rank mission.

This mission was another warding job, which required him, Tokusa, Itachi and Shisui to travel to a province called Owari in Land of Butterflies. Their client was a noble couple of the Oda clan, one of the richest noble clients of Konoha. Dealing with nobles was a chore most shinobi would refrain from doing if they could, especially with all the pleasantries and shit they had to spout to please the client. But this particular job was another level of annoying, and they would have throttled the client if not for the good pay. However, 30% higher pay rate be damned if that lady keeps looking at them like a dog in heat. It was not even funny that some noble like Lady Oda Nou had a taste for beautiful boys, which according to Shisui fit him and Itachi perfectly. For heaven's sake, Itachi was twelve! He was eight! And here he thought no one could be creepier than infamous Orochimaru and his experiments.

It was getting increasingly difficult to subtly dodge that lady's _affectionate_ hands during their short stay of warding her husband's residence. Naruto was glad her husband was around when he was drawing the ward seal array, because he won't appreciate distractions when he was doing his task and he wouldn't be able to stop Tokusa from throttling that lady if she dared to molest him. The next task of applying the point seal that marked the warded area was a bitch, because Lady Oda kept trying to invite them for tea breaks with her, which they politely declined. It didn't stop her from 'accidentally' running into them at least ten times in the three hours it took wandering around the manor to mark the area.

When the mission ended even Itachi looked ready to bolt from their seats after the lord of the manor inspected their handy work. Naruto appreciated the lord's compliments very much but he couldn't bear Tamamo's lusting gaze any longer, especially when she started drooling. How the hell Lord Oda didn't notice his wife's depravity, he didn't want to know. After they walked past the gate of the manor, they did what their instincts have been telling them since the mission started, and they ran like hell. After a few miles away from the Oda Manor they slowed down and decided to continue their two day journey back to Konoha in a slower pace.

"I think rather than being teammates, you guys are tasked to be my bodyguards." Naruto grumbled under his breath.

Shisui shrugged at that, "You can't blame Hokage-sama... you're one of the best seal masters we have and Konoha is flooded with warding requests from nobles now." Which had to be renewed every five years, meaning a steady income for Konoha, "You're inexperienced but to fulfill the client's demand we have to send you to foreign countries."

"It's unpleasant, but please bear with it Naruto-kun." Itachi drawled stoically, "The last thing we want is for other hidden villages to try and poach you from Konoha when you're out of Fire Country."

Tokusa nodded in agreement, I concur, Naruto-sama."

The blond sighed at that, it was ironic that for someone who had been ostracized for most of his life, he had to come to terms with the fact that he was vital for the continuity of the power balance in the shinobi world. At least he was not alone in that position, there were another eight poor souls in the same shoes. "I understand that but that doesn't mean I am going to like it." He said looking at a group of men with tattered armor and rusty looking weapons who blocked the path twenty meters ahead. "By the way, what do they want?" He asked in nonchalant tone, the way the group was eyeing them was anything but good.

"Rob us?" Shisui guessed which was the most likely.

"Maybe they're lost and wanted to ask for directions?" Tokusa tried to stay positive but he knew that was unlikely.

After they got within five feet from the ominous group, the team waited the group to give way to them. As expected the group they presumed to be ronin didn't, Naruto wondered what they could possibly want. "Uhm excuse me, could you please not block the way? We need to walk past." He asked politely.

One of the ronin with a large scar on his left arm grinned at them, "Hello brats, mind giving us some cash for a drink?" He asked cockily, waving his sword threateningly.

Shisui raised an eyebrow, on second thought these guys were probably thugs dressed like ronin. Anyone with a samurai background won't be using such crude words and manners even if they become bandits as far as Shisui knew. "Well... hello to you too, please make way for us before someone gets hurt."

Tokusa had to agree, "You see this?" He tapped his headband protector, "Don't look for trouble with us, and get lost." He waved at them dismissively.

One of the armed men snickered, "Nah... as if we're afraid of a genin team."

"We have beaten a team of _jounin_ from Moyagakure few days ago! The Moya triad!" He boasted proudly.

They gave a collective nod at that accomplishment, "We could take you on! _Genin_." The other added.

They were greeted by blank stares at the statement they made. It seemed these thugs thought they were genin because of their age. since this place was pretty far from any major hidden village the group probably rarely encounter ninjas. Especially if they were so proud about beating a team from Moyagakure (Hidden Village of Haze) of all places.

"Eh... Didn't you know? Moyagakure is like..." Tokusa trailed off with bored tone.

"…The weakest hidden village ever known in history?" Shisui informed them helpfully.

Naruto nodded at that, "They're pretty famous for their stupidity and ridiculous poisons."

Itachi frowned, "I am not sure they're even qualified as a hidden village... "The Uchiha scion added his two cents.

Other hidden villages even pretend they've never exist in the first place, since Moyagakure was such a sorry excuse of a hidden village in their eyes. The only reason Naruto and his team knew of the village was because in their last mission they ran to a team from that village. In which for some unknown reason, the stray team from Moyagakure attempted to shoot Shisui with a dart laced with laughing poison. Naruto was expecting some action but it turned out they were as strong as fourth year Konoha academy students as they possessed virtually no ninja skills. Shisui was sure Itachi's brother who was still in the academy could have beaten them easily. They could hardly feel sorry for the Moyagakure team when the infamous morons _almost_ accidentally killed themselves with their own poison coated weapons. It was pretty weird to see someone almost die of laughing, hiccuping, crying and other ridiculous causes. They didn't even know you could die from those, but apparently it was possible.

"Eh... so they're weak?" The scarred thug asked.

Shisui sorted, "Calling them weak shinobi would be a compliment, they're not even qualified to call themselves shinobi." What kind of ninja couldn't even manage a henge? Or use chakra at all?

"Oh." The group of armed men looked pretty pale that the Moyagakure ninjas they ganged up on before were just a little more than civilians armed with ninja weapons.

Itachi crossed his arms, "Now, if you please... make way for us. Our patience is thinning." He and Naruto in particular, since Lady Oda was _really_ interested in them. All he and Naruto wanted was to go back to Konoha and flush that memory out with a good sleep.

"Exactly." Naruto piped in.

The scarred man looked hesitant but quickly regained his wits, "You're still kids, there's no way we will back down from snotty brats. Besides... the two pretty boys over there..." He pointed at Naruto and Itachi who raised an eyebrow at him, "…would fetch a pretty good price." He licked his lips greedily.

Silence fell heavily in the air as Itachi and Naruto looked at each other then back to the bandit leader, "Excuse me?" Tokusa squeaked as the two targets gaped at the idea that someone might want to purchase them; he ignored Shisui who was trying really hard to stop himself from laughing.

"You're not... haha... going to rob us, but… hehe... kidnap and then sell them?!" Shisui asked incredulously in between muffled laughs, he knew Itachi and Naruto are pretty but this was the first time a stranger said it out loud and to their faces to boot.

Tokusa on the other hand couldn't comprehend the thought that someone would kidnap his young master and Itachi, not for their status but because they were pretty. "Are you mad?!" This man was going to get killed!

"Do you have any idea how expensive those pervert nobles would pay for them?" The scarred man asked back.

Shisui shook his head in amusement, "No, but I have an idea how you will spend the night today."

"Swimming in cash?" He sneered.

"Nope, in pain~" Shisui sang cheerfully as he cracked his knuckles.

"Lots of pain..." Naruto growled.

Five minutes later the shinobi team left the half dead bandits on the side of the road. Shisui was feeling a bit guilty that the fuming Naruto and Itachi looked ready to kill the next idiot who tried to block their path. They should have just ignored the idiot bandits, but from his experience they're sometimes stupid enough to run after a team of shinobi which ended up in beating them up anyway. But these missions were still a good break for Naruto and Itachi from politics at home, though this one was not so much relaxing as much as it was traumatizing in Shisui's book.

As for Naruto? If he gets another mission like this in less than one week he was going to riot, he almost missed holing up in the tower to craft seals. _Almost_ was the key word, he was still outdoor type of person. As for Itachi? A stop to a nice traditional cafe that served green tea and delicious Monaka was enough to improve his mood. Naruto rolled his eyes at Itachi who took a sip of his green tea with bliss on his face. "Itachi... I am really worried about your blood sugar."

"Hn." Naruto had been in his case since the blond noticed Itachi had been bringing sweets for two months straight to their sparring session for snacks. Everyone needed a hobby, and apparently visiting cafes and eating sweets was his. At the rate Itachi was going though, the first topic Naruto will bring up when the blond met his parents was going to be his sugar level and the risks of diabetes.

"And I am worried that you're worrying about such things like an old man when you're still eight." Shisui quipped from his left then turned to Itachi. "And him, drinking tea and visiting every quaint roadside cafe... a geezer's hobby."

Itachi and Naruto sighed at that, "We're not old men." They chorused.

"No." Shisui agreed, "You only act like one." He said jokingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This omake suppose to be part of chapter 10, but it's getting too long so I cut it out :)
> 
> I am planning to get Sasuke in this chapter but it's getting too long and not right timing for him to be in...  
> By the way I am sure some of you are disappointed that Danzou didn't get his just desert, or not bad enough... When I am all with the idea of kicking Danzou to hell and back simply for his crimes against children... -.-' He in Konoha is not someone you can just kick out because you didn't like him 'at this point' as he has too much shit to cover.
> 
> One of my reviewers suggested I need to bring out Naruto's childish side once in a while so I did! Fangirls! Melt at the picture of Itachi feeding Naruto porridge!


	13. Kyougaku (consternation)

**"Don't even try to swim against a whirlpool's current, you're just going to be pulled in."  
** Hakurei to Sandaime

 **1 3th Legacy: ****Kyougaku** (consternation)

Sarutobi Hiruzen sometimes wished that he could have arrived to the battle between the Yondaime and Kyuubi just an hour, a minute, or even a second earlier… he wished he made it in time and asked Minato to let him seal the Kyuubi in his place. He was old and tired, and frankly he couldn't deal with this political shit anymore. He might be the Hokage, and yet left and right people are plotting and he would have to either follow or crush their schemes for the good of Konoha.

Hakurei once again came bearing another politic issue that gave him headache the size of Hi no Kuni. An issue from seventeen hours ago, when Shibi and Inoichi kicked out of twenty Shinobi in total out of their clan and _officially_ released them to Danzou's care.

He was aware that there were a number of Aburame and Yamanaka residing in Danzou's forces, but he did not know that the clan heads were also aware and were itching to kick Danzou's goons out of their clans since they found out about it. Hakurei just gave them exactly what they wanted and Danzou was allowed to keep his soldiers, a win-win situation. The downside was that the Aburame and Yamanaka of Ne were stripped of their family name and heritage, and labeled as disgraces to their clans forever.

The Sandaime had questioned both Shibi and Inoichi about it, both of whom gave him the same answer. Ne might be part of Konoha, but at the same time, they weren't Konoha. It pained them to banish their own clan members but it was a necessity, since there's no telling what would become of their children if they keep Ne's Shinobi in their clan. To them Ne was like a plague, something they had to keep their clan away from.

They didn't say anything, but he knew. Shibi and Inoichi were disappointed that he allowed Ne to flourish in Konoha, gnawing on their clan members. However at the same time, Shibi and Inoichi knew he didn't have what it takes to completely disband Ne and cut off Danzou's limbs. It was not for lack of his capability as a Shinobi no, it was never about that. In a one on one fight he was certain he could beat Danzou even at their sixties. However he needed Danzou to handle Konoha's darkness, to do what he couldn't.

So when Hakurei asked what he would do now that Danzou had dared to order his puppets to attack Naruto, all he could do was reply with a feeble: "What do you think I can do?"

Hakurei snorted, "Let's see… _officially_ disband his Ne _again?_ " The old seal master suggested cynically, "A reprimand perhaps?" He added with a raised eyebrow.

Sarutobi snarled, he was not in the mood for Hakurei's sarcasm. "Do you have any idea what will happen if I rat him out?!" He asked in incredulous tone, "Inoichi and Shibi agreed to solve this peacefully, but I would be a fool to think the rest of Konoha would do the same! I admit I am unaware of many things he has done, but I am sure the moment all those crimes he had done _for_ Konoha surfaces… people from left and right would swear vengeance on Konoha! That's assuming a civil war won't break out first!"

Hakurei's smile turned borderline psychotic at that, "Congrats! Here I thought you have no idea that Danzou has become raving mad with his ideals! Yes! He is a fucking bomb detonator, if not the bomb itself! "Hakurei clapped in mocking fashion." I won't put it past him if to ensure that one day you kicked the bucket first..."

Hiruzen cringed knowing that even Hakurei thought he would die before Danzou did. "He would declare: He is the man who can pull us back from the brink of destruction and bring order and law to Shinobi world to our Daimyou and make him Godaime. Ha ha ha ha ha!" Hakurei laughed out loud, "What order? What law? I'd bet my whole fortune by the first week of his rule as kage someone would try to assassinate him!"

The Sandaime sighed, "You love to slight him a bit too much Hakurei…"

"He makes it easy." Hakurei agreed, "At any rate… you should be thankful that once again I am wiling to let you off scot-free." He said with thinly veiled sarcasm. "No boycott, no demands…" He listed on.

 _No, but I will owe you a lot and I will feel guilty for it_. The Sandaime thought with a sigh, rolling his eyes inwardly. "Are you sure you don't want to demand anything?"

Hakurei grinned, "Why… I thought you'd never ask! I am just going to ask a _small_ favor."

With how long the Sandaime had known Hakurei (over four freaking decades!), this would be anything but small "Then what is this _small_ favor?"

Hakurei pulled out two files from his storage scroll and presented it to the old kage. The Sandaime opened both files, frowning at the photo of a pale skinned black haired child and another boy with a darker skin tone and grey hair. "I want you to put Sanseki Sai and Sanseki Shin under my clan's protection." Which automatically makes them also under Uzumaki protection, but Hiruzen didn't need to know or he'd make a fuss about it. "And… then induct them to Konoha's regular forces… a genin rank would be fine!"

His eyes went wide at the name of the long dead clan, "Sanseki? Where did you find them?!"

"You know about kids investing in Konoha's sewers? We got lucky finding them…" Hakurei said vaguely but it was enough for Sandaime to get an idea.

The professor groaned, "Danzou again? How?"

"If I answered that _how_ of yours, could you do something about it?" At his silence Hakurei sighed tiredly, "Thought so, being a kage is not so great after all… your hands are tied." He shook his head exasperatedly, "However I sincerely admit you're not to blame… in case of Danzou, at this point I don't have the slightest idea of how to do better than you in your position in handling him."

He nodded in agreement at that, "I don't have the heart to allow a big enough scandal that could legalize eliminating him. Not with Koharu and Homura backing him…" Of course his teammates were loyal to him and Konoha, but sometimes they agreed more with Danzou's methods than his and would no doubt see the war hawk as an indispensable asset for Konoha.

Hakurei narrowed his eyes at the wrinkled face of his old friend, they were relatively of the same age but he could now see how the job made Hiruzen look much older. The man Hakurei saw sitting in front of him was not the Hokage or the professor, but an old and tired Sarutobi Hiruzen. Someone who was perched on top but was helpless in watching his old rival plunge deeper and deeper to darkness for Konoha's sake, his wife was killed at the night of Kyuubi's attack, and his youngest son ran off to serve the daimyou. How Hiruzen was still sane enough to run a village with all that emotional baggage, he didn't know.

After the last document needed was signed, Hiruzen handed the files back to Hakurei. "Here… I just hope we won't regret this."

Hakurei snorted at that, "We won't" He turned to leave but stopped as his hand hovered over the handle of the door, "Oh... and since I gave Danzou a warning, it won't be fair if I don't give you any."

"Hakurei..." The Sandaime warned.

The old seal master quirked his lips, "Don't even try to swim against a whirlpool's current, you're just going to be pulled in."

Since his promotion Hiruzen had done his best to hold his young master back, whether it was due fear for Naruto's safety or his growing power, Hakurei could care less. His young master knew this and he won't stay idle for so long. He was an Uzumaki after all, an Uzumaki would never accept being held back by anyone. This recent move Danzou made would just spur his master more and more.

* * *

_**A few days later in Fuuintou (The Tower of Seals)** _

_"The fire's shadow illuminates the village... this is my nindo as Hokage of Konohagakure" Said the deep voice he had heard many times in his previous dream, the voice of his father._

_And there's a familiar giggle in response, his mother's that sounds so soothing like wind bells in summer. "Well... considering your bright yellow hair, I think you'll illuminate our village just fine!"_

_He could see his father's reflection in his mother's grey eyes, a slight quirk on his eyes whenever his mother was teasing. "Ha ha ha... I am Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou (Yellow Flash) after all."_

_On the corner of his eyes he saw a much younger Sandaime smiling at his successor, "Whether or not you illuminate us literally, the crowd is bursting with excitement when they found out you're our new Hokage... Minato-kun."_

_He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, eyes closed as he shot the recently former kage a bright smile. "Well... I didn't know I am that popular!" He titled his head to the side, "Then again... my reputation as Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou strikes fear in our enemies, a reputation I built with power and bloodshed in war..."_

_"Minato..." Kushina murmured._

_"We are Shinobi, so I think it's inevitable..." He admitted sheepishly, "Everyone acknowledges my power as a Shinobi, but I am not sure someone as young as me has the wisdom required to be a good leader our people would acknowledge."_

_His mother narrowed her eyes, "Just because you're young doesn't mean Orochimaru-san is a much better choice because he is old!"_

_Sandaime sweat-dropped at Kushina's statement, "Kushina, while I agree Orochimaru is not a better candidate than Minato because he is older... my student is in his thirties, if he is old, what am I?"_

_Kushina averted her eyes, adorably sticking her tongue out. "Ancient?"_

_Minato face-palmed, "Kushina..."_

_"Te he!"_

_The Sandaime cleared his throat, "At any rate Minato-kun." He began, "I didn't choose you over Orochimaru just because of your reputation, you have something my student doesn't have... strong determination and benevolent heart who believe in our people." The Sandaime looked sad as he spoke. "That's why I trusted you... and passed my hat to you, I am not the only one who has faith in you... everyone in our village acknowledges you as someone who will bring prosperity to Konoha... that's what being a kage means. We are to answer... our people's hopes."_

**"Naruto, wake up!"**

Naruto blinked owlishly, he had fallen asleep after Hakurei went to the Hokage Tower. "What time is it now?" The couch in his living room was a bit uncomfortable but he was simply too tired to drag himself to his bed so he settled for the couch.

Shisui chuckled softly, "It's three in the afternoon... I heard from Tokusa you're still under the weather this morning so you went back to sleep after lunch."

Naruto groaned as he sat up, "I woke up as usual today... but the headache made me sluggish... I shouldn't wake up so early..."He winced, "And a nap is not helping... an afternoon nap lasting more than a few hours makes me feel even more horrible."

"You're always a morning person so it can't be helped if your biological clock woke you up in spite of that..." Itachi added.

He sighed at that, "Never mind..."

"So how is it? Did Hakurei get them good?" Shisui asked curiously.

Naruto nodded, "Aburame and Yamanaka... two of the six major clans of Konoha owe us a favor now, an alliance with them is more or less secured." He narrowed his eyes, "If we got the Yamanaka... then we can pretty much secure the Nara and Akimichi, and since Aburame have good history with Hyuuga and Inuzuka since they often been partnered for tracking teams. We can expect the Inuzuka clan to follow... with their pack mentality it will be easy to form a good relationship with them. They have already contacted us for medical seals... since they wanted us to develop one for their canine companions."

The use of fuuinjutsu in for the medical field was already a standard practice in Konoha, after all one of Konoha's foremost medical pioneers was the granddaughter of Uzumaki Mito. However it seemed that the standard seals used for restoring chakra coils, cell regeneration, and other medical procedures sometimes won't work as well for the Inuzuka's dogs. Naruto had decent knowledge in medic fuuinjutsu and even though he was not an expert, even he could tell that the reason it didn't work as well on dogs was undoubtedly because of the differences in anatomy, though he was uncertain whether it is genetic or something else along that line.

"So the Hyuuga too?" Shisui asked curiously, not that he was fond of clan who was so fond in declaring themselves as the strongest in Konoha.

Naruto shrugged, "I don't expect the Hyuuga would deign to step down from their high throne anytime soon..."

Especially since the white eyed clan had been peeved by their recent alliance with the Uchiha, increasing their rival's reputation in public eyes. So the Hyuuga was pretty much under the impression that their relationship with the tower would be strictly for business. The rivalry between the doujutsu bearer clans was actually non-existent in Uchiha's part since Uchiha hardly acknowledges the Hyuuga's superiority over them in terms of doujutsu. Then again, the Uchiha was more concerned with their political standing now, especially since Itachi and Shisui could wipe the floor with any Hyuuga their age.

The tower pretty much had a nonexistent relationship with the Hyuuga, and the clan had forbidden their branch members from enrolling in the Tower's fuuinjutsu course in fear that they will somehow figure out a way to get rid of the **Kagonotori no Fuuin** -Caged Bird Seal. A concept which was pretty ridiculous, since while the Tower had never bothered to study the Hyuuga's seal, they had a pretty good idea of the seal's construction. It was in the same category with the Iwazaru no Fuuin, a branch of seal studies called 'Juuinjutsu. It was also Aizen's clan's specialty. Removing this kind of seal was a pain in the ass and some, and while newly applied seals could be broken easily with the right chakra burst, one that is years old could kill the victim if removed recklessly. Unlike Danzou, the Hyuuga know their seals well, so the chance of the failure removal is much higher. Even if a 9th Dan seal master like Hakurei attempted it, they were still looking at a good 50%-60% chance of failing.

"It's not like I have anything against the Hyuuga, even though I don't like the way they treat their own family..." Naruto murmured with a sigh, "I just can't see it being easy to extend a hand no matter what... they're a very proud clan and competitive to boot." He sighed again, "Tradition and history wise... our clans have a higher standing, being descendants of Rikudo Sennin as well as being founding clans..."

Shisui titled his head to the side, "They never struck me to be the jealous type... that seems to be more of an Uchiha thing!"

Itachi and Naruto stared at Shisui incredulously, "Sometimes... I wonder if you ever forget that your surname is Uchiha." Itachi said in amused tone.

The younger Shinobi shrugged, "I started to think that having a Doujutsu makes arrogance genetic, but well... if they're comfortable in their high place and have no intention to join us, let them be... as long as we leave each other alone."

"I see..." Itachi murmured, "How about Danzou?"

Shisui nodded at that, "Hakurei sent him a message from you, but do you think he gets it at all?" Shisui asked curiously.

"You mean if Danzou would ever understand what I tried to convey in my message?" Naruto echoed Shisui's question, he looked thoughtful for a while then gave the shunshin expert a nonchalant shrug.

Shisu's left eyebrow twitched at the response, when it comes to Naruto that was an equivalent of _'Fuck if I know'_ reply. "Then why bother to get Hakurei-dono to forward it?"

Itachi titled his head to the side, glancing at his blond friend. "We agreed that Danzou is a man so devoted to his own ideals, he lost sight of everything else…"

"Probably because I just want him to hear it…" The blond confessed, "He thinks that the Sandaime's teachings are weakening our village… "Shisui frowned, "Even I can see that it's not entirely baseless, since after Kumo's blatant assault on the Hyuuga, they got scot-free. I can understand that… we just recovered from third war and… that traitor's attack. We can't afford a war, it's a suicide." They agreed to not call the event as the Kyuubi's attack, because in a sense Kurama didn't even give a flying fuck about attacking Konoha as long as he could be free. "But there's Orochimaru's defection. Hakurei said the Sandaime barely lifted a hand about Orochimaru… no matter how low Orochimaru has fallen, the Sandaime is still…"

Shisui narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "I hope you're not implying Sandaime is weak or anything along that line…"

Naruto sighed, Shisui was fond of Sandaime since his father was a good friend with the Hokage. He couldn't blame Shisui for defending Sandaime though; he was pretty blunt about Sandaime's failures. "Shisui… all leaders in history have their shortcomings, I acknowledge him as a good leader who believe in his shinobi and strives for Konoha's sake. Regardless of everything I still see the Sandaime as my grandfather figure, for so long he had been someone who treated me as a human being first before I noticed anyone else." He sighed wearily, "I can say I didn't lost hope in humanity because of him."

"Naruto…"Shisui couldn't help but touched.

"He is also the first person I lost trust in though." Naruto added impassively, rolling his eyes.

Shisui fell from his chair out of shock, glaring at Naruto who returned it with dispassionate stare. "Seriously! Naruto… only you could say you trust someone and distrust him in one breath."

"Two breaths to be exact." Itachi corrected.

Shisui groaned, these two! "No one likes a nitpicker! Itachi! Naruto!"

Naruto sighed again, hugging his knees and propping his chin on top of it. "It's not like I blame him for my pariah status as a jinchuuriki, there's five kages in the continent but I have not heard any of them helping their jinchuuriki from their pariah status..." He heard that some had decent lives but people were still afraid of them. Yagura was not helping their reputation, though going mad was not that uncommon for jinchuuriki.

Itachi and Shisui flinched at that, "Naruto…"

Even for those who managed to pull through and be acknowledged, they still had to earn it on their own like the Kumo jinchuuriki. Naruto didn't mind that, he didn't even think to demand that much from the Sandaime. "However… what pains me the most is… my trust is not returned at all." He clenched his fist, "Everything I gained until today is because he had no choice but allow it… I graduated early because Tori brought up that being in the academy just stunted my growth, my promotion to genin is because of Aizen's recommendation… and I heard from Hakurei that even then he put up an argument over it, and that any chance of promotion to chuunin is the same… it took me going through Hakurei and his teammates, that I cornered him to agree or else…"

Shisui sighed at that, he couldn't blame Naruto for being distrustful of the Sandaime then. He had seen it too, no matter how much Naruto showed the Sandaime of his growth, the kage still sees Naruto as a child he has to shelter from the cruel world of Shinobi. The irony was… the moment his status as a jinchuuriki was leaked to public and he became Konoha's pariah, the Sandaime and Konoha had already failed to give Naruto a childhood.

"I still love him as a family but to trust him…" He trailed off, recalling the distant memory of dismissal he was given whenever he asked of his parents. "I don't think… I can trust him ever again." He confessed sadly.

Itachi sighed at that, "I guess I can relate to that… " A long ago he trusted his clan to stay loyal to Konoha no matter what, but now he could see them wrapped in their own arrogance and have lost sight of what is most important.

Naruto glanced at Itachi and Shisui; all of them had seen their world at its darkest. Shisui and Itachi saw it through war, while Naruto saw it through the eyes of a jinchuuriki. "Danzou has started to move... both sides have managed to get out of this conflict with Konoha intact, but from this event we can see..."

"How frail Konoha's political balance is..." Itachi finished grimly, "We have to eliminate Danzou sooner or later, he is too dangerous." He said as he skimmed through the document Shisui forced one of Ne's operative to write.

Apparently Danzou put a number of his operatives to be record keepers, and would periodically rotate his subordinates for this duty. Which was why even if someone managed to get a hand on one of them and get around the Iwazaru no Fuuin, they won't be able to get complete information of Danzou's operation. However Danzou had too much shit to hide that his method was not that effective. There was a reason why Danzou periodically replaced his spies and killed those who worked too long for him to prevent his spies from knowing too much. What Shisui managed to discover while not much, was enough to send shivers to their spines, Swamp Country's invasion, the tragedy in Land of Wood, connections with Orochimaru's experiments, and so on. If this was just the tip of the iceberg, they couldn't imagine the rest.

"I don't want to know." Naruto confessed in regard to Danzou's horrible deeds. "But we need to know."

Shisui nodded at that, "No wonder Sandaime-sama protects and keep an eye on him in the same time, his downfall is going to open a can of worms and his grubby hands are everywhere..."

Itachi cringed at that, "Which means we have to make sure he is dead while bringing his secrets to the grave with him." He concluded.

"How? People who would swear vengeance on him are everywhere!" Shisui asked incredulously. "Oh I know... we make a shrine on his grave and tell the people to curse it forever or something? Or sell his clones as punching bag?"

Naruto face-palmed, "I can't believe I am actually considering that... at any rate how long do you think we will fare in this stalemate."

"No idea." Shisui shrugged.

Itachi sighed, "We're lucky if by the end of this year the suggestion of a coup isn't going to resurface."

Naruto scowled at that, "Your father must be pretty tired trying to fend off angry members of his clan..."

Shisui nodded, "Fugaku-jiisan is trying his best to assure the clan that we're heading to a better future now, or something along that line..." To be fair he, Itachi and the clan head themselves were not sure of that, so it was hard to make their clansmen believe it. "The elders are still skeptical though." Sometimes Shisui wondered why they needed advice from old coots like their elders, but of course, wisdom and experience came with age and whatnot.

"We are backing my father's claim to the best of our ability but we can't tell how long it will last..." He murmured wearily, "Not to mention they started breathing down our necks again lately."

The older Uchiha nodded, "It's mostly the elders... the older generation in general, and most Uchihas our age who remembered the end of third war when they're young."

Naruto face-palmed, it seemed that a majority of the Uchiha was still unsatisfied with their current status. He couldn't blame them, for a proud clan like the Uchiha to accept disrespect from Konoha is unfathomable. They were one of the founding clans, and yet they were monitored like prisoners. Itachi might be their heir and pride, a prodigy of the highest caliber who cemented their reputation as the strongest, on the other hand however, Itachi was not that well liked among his clansmen, because he turned his back on a lot of traditional Uchiha beliefs. While Shisui was in the same page as Itachi, he was not the heir and was not watched as closely. However at this rate even Shisui would be put on the spot.

They also couldn't forget the rogue Uchiha they had to hunt, the man who tore their families apart. Konoha is at risk of falling to civil war, while that traitor didn't even need to lift a finger as Konoha annihilated itself. Naruto was not thirsting for revenge, but he would be damned if that traitor gets what he wants! No!

"So... we can't progress in our own leisure, because the rest of the world is not going to wait..." He murmured. "There's nothing you can do to change your political standing now... both of you have done well to reach ANBU rank, but in the end you're still part of a clan that Konoha's government is suspicious of... even if eventually, either you or Itachi reach the rank of ANBU captain, it will hardly change the situation... if anything..."

"Our clan would be upset that in spite of my rank their standing is not getting better..." Itachi continued gravely, "I know as much but I still wish my part in this won't hit a dead end yet..."

Shisui groaned, "It sucks... but any shinobi rank below a kage, a division leader, or the head jounin could only get you that far in politics..."

Naruto nodded at that, "In my case however..."

"You're untouchable by anyone but the Hokage..." Itachi murmured, "However..."

"My status as jinchuuriki makes me important to Konoha as a weapon, well... hardly any difference compared to the forbidden scroll Hokage-sama keeps in the Hokage Tower's archives..." Naruto rolled his eyes when he saw Shisui flinch. "of those who care of my political standing... Hokage-sama, Hakurei and The Tower..."

"You have my father's support." Itachi added without hesitation. "Well... not openly, unfortunately..."

Naruto smiled at that, "I would be worried if he'd give it openly." Naruto assured the younger Uchiha, "It's going to cause unrest... but still... at this rate... Hokage-sama is in our way."

The Uchiha cousins froze, "What did you say?!" Shisui asked in disbelief.

"He is in our way." Naruto repeated without remorse, "I have no intention of being indulged in the bliss of ignorance... it's not helping me or anyone as far as I'm concerned."

Itachi swallowed, "You're talking about your heritage?"

Naruto sighed, "No, I will let the status of my heritage be as it is for now... "

The Uchiha's scion frowned, it seemed even Naruto was reaching his line of patience. Naruto was very possessive of his legacy, which was no wonder as he spent most of his life thinking he was unwanted and had nothing of his root to hold onto. Naruto loathed to be kept away from his legacy more than anything, and he had no intention to let those legacies left by his parents out of his reach forever.

"Then what do you want? In spite of everything he cares about you..." Shisui murmured.

"Unfortunately what I want and what he thought is the best for me is not the same..." Naruto answered coolly, "It does not matter what I feel for him, but I won't get anywhere with being safe! Like it or not... sooner or later I will make a decision that will greatly disappoint him... I am not a little boy he could keep ignorant of the world!"

"Naruto..."

Naruto sighed wearily, "Does that count as insubordination? Ha ha ha... am I disappointing you now?"

Itachi shook his head. "Naruto... you know we promised you that no matter what we will always be your ally, your friends... and one day if I have to choose between being loyal to you or Hokage-sama, I will choose you."

The younger boy tensed, "That's... a rather big promise, even for you Itachi... "

"I am serious." Itachi stated.

Shisui nodded eagerly, "What Itachi said..."

Naruto laughed softly at that, they're really serious for choosing him over their lord and in extension Konoha itself. What he had done to deserve them? He was a jinchuuriki and the heir of the Uzumaki clan, but Itachi and Shisui were here by his side for him alone. It won't be fair if he didn't promise the same right?

"Then I will promise you the same... even if your family, clan, this village... and the world itself betrays you, I will be always be on your side no matter what."

* * *

**Two weeks later**

Shisui and Itachi were both sent to a long term ANBU mission that would take at least a few weeks to complete, and by the Sandaime's estimation they would be back in two weeks. So it was left to Naruto to form a team with either the Shiomitsu siblings or the Sanseki siblings, though Hakurei requested the Sanseki siblings to stay in the tower until they were used living their new life, free of Danzou's influence. Apparently like any other children of Ne, both brothers were socially crippled. Hiruzen had asked for a more thorough explanation about the children's mental state, and even offered to assign a Yamanaka for help. Hakurei, however refused and reasoned that both Sai and Shin by Shinobi standards were not really mentally ill, all they needed was time to adjust with their life. The Sandaime could do nothing but give in, and let Hakurei handle his boys.

However it was not the newly introduced Sanseki siblings that concerned him, not as much as the solemn child before him.

"C rank... "Naruto murmured, "A small village in Na no Kuni is in need us to protect their greenhouse for the incoming storms?"

Sarutobi nodded, he didn't know if it was just him or if there was really a tint of disappointment in Naruto's voice lately whenever he requested a mission. "By right it's a D rank, but the sheer workload makes it a C rank." He explained loftily. Of course he didn't miss the clenched fist or a brief spark of chakra Tokusa and Yuzuriha made. The Shiomitsu siblings were displeased he made their young master to do such mundane job.

Naruto nodded, "Well... considering I have kage-bunshin in my repertoire, it's an efficient choice... Hokage-sama."He said, beaming at the old kage.

He had spent too much time around Hakurei lately that even Naruto's statement sounded like there's a tint of sarcasm on it. Or maybe Naruto was indeed subtly being sarcastic with him. Naruto had been a chuunin for almost half a year, and yet his missions were mostly C and D ranks with the exception of one B rank mission. That B rank itself was an escort mission that ranked that high because the client was an important diplomat for Hi no Kuni and was very anal about proper conducts of nobility, and so was prone to be displeased by a Shinobi's crude manners. Naruto was chosen because he was one of few shinobi in his village who knows how to deal with pompous nobles, and what a right choice that was since the diplomat was very pleased by the 'nice shinobi boy' and specifically requested Naruto to be the only shinobi assigned for his escort in the future. While it pleased the Sandaime, he couldn't help but think Naruto was also suited to be one of the Daimyou's guards like his son.

Asuma from what he heard was having a hard time with politics in the capital, and sooner or later Asuma would come back to Konoha, after all he already has a nice bounty on his head as proof that he is not just a kage's son. Anyone wanted acknowledgement, both his son and Naruto. However he couldn't push Naruto more than they already had with promoting him to Chuunin at eight, and the least he could do was to not send him to dangerous battlefields like he did with Kakashi. There already have been too many prodigies this village broke, starting from his own broken team, Hatake Kakashi, and at this rate if he was not careful Naruto, Itachi and Shisui would join the list. He couldn't do much for Itachi and Shisui who were under the Uchiha clan, but he could still do something for Naruto. He would hold Naruto back, he won't let Minato's son be broken like the other prodigies before him.

_'Don't even try to swim against a whirlpool's current, you're just going to be pulled in.'_

"Naruto-kun." Sarutobi called the boy out when he was about to leave mission office.

Naruto turned to face the old kage, a puzzled expression on his face. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

 _I just want you to be safe and happy,_ that's what he wanted to say but he couldn't. "Have a safe journey... Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled softly at that, "Yes of course... Hokage-sa..." He shook his head, "Jii-chan."

The old kage smiled at that, how long it has been since the last time Naruto called him like that? Too long... As the door closed the old kage was in a much better mood than he had for the last few months.

On the the other side of the door Naruto sighed, now he _really_ felt guilty deceiving his surrogate grandfather. Then again he had been lied to for most of his short life, and people said ignorance is bliss, to Naruto it was anything but bliss, it was hell. He learned that he was _much_ happier to know he was almost universally hated in Konoha for his jinchuuriki status rather than being clueless and wandering helplessly in that hellhole of solitude. He had friends, family, people who cared of him now, and if what it takes to protect them was lying to the whole world, then so be it!

"Naruto-sama?" Yuzuriha's voice snapped him out of his thought. "Are you alright?"

Naruto blinked owlishly, they had been out of Hokage's tower and his subordinates were worried that he hadn't said a thing since they left the mission room. "Ah yes, I am fine Yuzuriha." He narrowed his eyes as they walked to direction of Konoha's gate. "Don't let your guard down, failure is not an option for this mission." Of course he was not talking about the mission of helping farmers in Komugi no Kuni. But the one Itachi wanted to strangle him for, seriously, they had agreed in the end though.

**Hi no Kuni's border**

They had set a camp for today, a base of operations as they swept through Hi no Kuni's borders. Takigakure was having one of their annual mass training routines, which focused really close to their border. Actually the Hokage himself believed the chance of Taki plotting against Konoha was non-existent. While the alliance between Konoha and Taki was pretty loose, Takigakure had no reason to attack Konoha. There's too large a gap in military power between Konoha and Taki, and the minor village owed Konoha a lot of debt. The ANBU presence here was just a warning for Taki to not get any ideas, but mostly to get Danzou off the Sandaime's back for letting another hidden village have an annual training very close to their border.

Uchiha Shisui sighed as he looked at his cousin. Said cousin was still as expressionless as ever, if there was one Uchiha's traditional code that Itachi honored, it was keeping one's emotion in control during a mission. They were not in hostile territory, but a shinobi could never let their guard down in a mission. Shisui could tell that Itachi was restless, and he had not stopped poking the campfire with his stick.

"Itachi... you're still worried about him?" The other was out hunting for food so they had the camp all for themselves.

The younger Uchiha sighed, "I am..." After a long while of silence Itachi spoke again. "He shouldn't go ahead with that plan."

"Unfortunately..." Shisui trailed off, "He has to do something, sooner or later, you're not expecting him to stay idle and let Hokage-sama hold him back forever, are you?"

"No." Itachi agreed, "But I still don't like it..."

"Neither I do." Shisui shrugged, "We must trust Naruto though... no matter what."

"Of course..." Itachi murmured, "We promised each other... he promised..."

Shisui laughed softly, "But since when did the world care? Our clan, especially our elders never cared... I wish there are more people like cousin Obito around, maybe our clan could be considered decent sociable individuals then. If not for Uchiha like us and him, I would have thought the Uchiha are born intrinsically with sticks up our asses."

Somewhere in Kirigakure, certain orange masked Uchiha sneezed.


	14. Onward

**Chapter 14: Onward**

_"I am a shinobi, and an Uzumaki… don't see me as a child,_  
_I come in the name of my clan and my nindo._  
_Please acknowledge that… as I have fulfilled my clan's promise to you."_  
**Uzumaki Naruto**  

Sarutobi Hiruzen wondered if he should feel relieved or grow even more anxious with how Naruto returned from his mundane C rank mission unmolested. The ANBU team that he dispatched to follow them reported that Naruto and his team had performed their mission to the letter. Despite the fact that hundreds of Naruto's kagebunshin was seen running around all over Na no Kuni for days, there have been no reports of any suspicious activity.

He found that Naruto even made time to share some of the seals he made to irrigate his garden, offering them at a discounted rate on the promise that they kept hiring Konoha-nin for missions. Apparently some of the farmers there were forced to use labor-intensive methods because they had no money to put up a proper irrigation system for their fields, Naruto's seals offered a cheaper alternative to that.

It seemed that Naruto made a killing in the said agricultural country.

It was actually the fact that the mission was almost uneventful that made him anxious. Naruto was still the same dutiful young Shinobi, and his reports are as concise and enlightening as usual. He even added a suggestion to propose a deal with Na no Kuni that may allow Konoha to monopolize D and C rank missions for the maintenance of their farms. The fact that Na no Kuni was just a day's trip from Konoha, makes it perfect for new teams to train for working in another country while still remain relatively safe.

In response, Sarutobi promised that he'll write a letter to Na no Kuni's lord as soon as possible. Naruto seemed elated by the prospect, since it seemed that the boy has fallen in love with Na no Kuni's people during his stay. The Sandaime didn't have the heart to inform him that Na no Kuni's peace is just a facade. At the heart of its court, the Daimyou is actually on the verge of being ousted by a group of criminals sponsored by treacherous courtiers.

He would have had to send a team to save the lord of Na no Kuni if only to ensure that such a deal brings prosperity for Konoha. Unfortunately the Daimyou has not agreed to the proposal, citing that there's no reason to spare his Shinobi for charity. The benefits of the proposal was found to be too small for the risks that sending a team might incur. And his advisors would never approve of this just to make Naruto happy. A Shinobi village is first and foremost, a business, and no one performs charities without profits in their world.

So with heavy a heart he dismissed Naruto with a promise he knows he'll never fulfill. He didn't even think twice about approving Naruto's request for taking leave from duty for a few days to prepare for his next ranking exam as a seal master. He had no doubt that Naruto will pass, and he hoped that this would help serve as a distraction to help the boy forget about Na no Kuni.

The Sandaime never noticed the way Naruto's eyes gleamed with determination the moment his back was turned nor how his lips silently mouthed:

" _ **Preparation**_ _ **s**_ _ **complete**_ _ **"**_

 **Tower of Seal** **s** **(Fuuintou)**

It was not his favorite place in the tower, no matter how much Naruto claims to love this little rooftop garden. While he may have called it little, he didn't mean it as literally. It's just how Naruto named this place, a circular green house around fifteen feet in diameter and filled with various plants and flowers. It was "Naruto's little garden", at least, that's how the boy named it.

As for why it was not his favorite place, it's simply because of the fact that he was a sensor. While he cannot claim that he's one of the best out there, even he can feel the pressure in the air that a sensor experiences in areas that are highly saturated with nature chakra. It's like swimming in a pool of oil, as if there is something oily and slimy clinging to your senses. It was a very uncomfortable sensation to say the least.

He was aware that Naruto was developing a knack in sensing chakra, and he wonders how the blond can stand it at all. He glanced at the boy who was once again thoroughly soaking the seals all around the green house with his chakra. Naruto was pouring an insane amount of chakra as usual to maintain this garden, and at the rate he was going this place would be as rich as the rumored Mount Myoboku in terms of nature chakra in few years.

"All done." Naruto said as he stepped back from the seal array. "That will hold up for a week at least."

Itachi who was also watching the seal work keenly couldn't help but comment: "You have been feeding your plants with chakra for so long, while turning the energy to nature chakra…"

"Basically creating a rich nature-chakra saturated soil." Shisui continued, "The Hokage will flip if he finds out about this secret side project of yours."

Naruto shrugged, caressing a thick vine gently and was pleased to feel it twitch under his caress. He was no Senju Hashirama, but his project was going well enough to be considered a success. "What is the issue? It's mine, I am not hurting anyone with it, and it's not dangerous as far as I know."

 _It's mine_ _._ the moment Naruto said that, any chance of him relinquishing this little garden of his became nonexistent. If there was one thing the Uchiha cousins have learned about Naruto, was that of his utter possessiveness of things that he claimed as his own. Itachi would always remember the way Naruto clung so protectively to his sealing notes when they first met.

Then again… Naruto was a child denied so many things for so long because of his jinchuuriki status. He has taken to caring for plants ever since he was small to keep himself company, and because of the fact that he could give them all attention he wanted and no one would get angry or lecture him about it like they did when he tried to take in a stray cat.

"Well… not even the Hokage has seen this garden ever since it transformed into a nature-chakra fountain." Itachi admitted, "He will have a heart attack if he finds out that the five little potted plants you got back then have become like this."

"Eeh… really?" Naruto mused as rested on a giant lotus leaf floating on a sizeable pond of his garden. "Nah… I think Hokage-sama would be more shocked if he knew about what I am going to do next."

Shisui shuddered, "Is it too late to convince you to change your mind?"

"Like hell I will stop now." Naruto hissed angrily, "I won't and I can't."

"There's no way he will stop now, Shisui… " Itachi reminded the older Uchiha. "We are at the point that we have no choice but to continue in moving forward with our plans or risk everything falling apart."

Shisui sighed wearily, "It's always do or die for us huh?" Of course death would be more preferable if ever they fail since in this case they would not only lose their lives but something worse.

"Hm…" Naruto hummed, finding it mildly humorous how calm he felt after experiencing this kind of situations far too many times to count. "But you see… I couldn't help but feel excited of the things to come." He said as he raised his hand as if to reach out to the sky beyond the glass dome. "Everything will change soon…"

"It's unfortunate that it has to be this way." Shisui couldn't help but say.

Itachi snorted at that. "Don't say it like that…" He closed his eyes, "A chick could only be born by breaking the shell of its egg… the very shell that once protected it."

Shisui gritted his teeth at that, "But Itachi… " It seemed Itachi was already singing a different tune, the way his cousin was speaking. Itachi was against this as much as he did before but now… "This is the only way, huh? But still…"

Naruto hummed a playful tune, his hand was still reaching out. From the small gaps between his fingers the sunlight filtered into a thin thread. "Ne… Kurama, do you think changing the world is possible?."

" **Yeah,** **remember that the** **Sage of Six Path** **s** **did change the world back then… but I am** **not confident of the odds that a** **mere child like you could do it."** Kurama said, snickering in the deepest part of his mind.

The Uchiha cousins were startled to hear Naruto suddenly laughing from his napping place, it seemed that Kurama said something that amused him again. Sometimes they wished they could hear the two converse, they felt out of the loop sometimes.

"A mere child like me can't change the world..." Naruto exclaimed as he rolled around on the giant lotus leaf. "True so true… but you see…" He was laying on his stomach, crossing his arms as his eyes locked to his friends. "together I think we can do it, right guys? With you by my side, we can do everything…"

Shisui grinned at that, "Of course."

Itachi just sighed before he replied, "True."

As he watched Shisui tackle Naruto leading to both of them sinking the lotus leaf under their weight, he couldn't help but feel content. For so long he was haunted by the shadow of the third Shinobi War, by the image of blood and tragedy. Ever since he learned of his clan's ambition, their foolish pride that blinds them from the world around them… he almost felt consumed by the fear of another war.

He would then be forced to choose between his clan and village. Perhaps he and Shisui would have done something they'd regret… if that's what they had to do for…

"The water is nice!"

"My pond is not a pool for you to cool down, idiot!" Naruto said as he landed a playful punch on Shisui's face.

But because of Naruto… it was strange that ever since Naruto entered his life, his despair and doubts were soothed. He could believe that one way or another if its Naruto , he would be able to do something to make everything alright. Naruto would be there for them, the same way they would for him.

"Oh before I forget…" Naruto who was soaked to the bone rummaged his pocket sand threw something round and black at each of them. "That's the thing I was talking about few weeks ago, it's done."

Itachi caught the black object or rather it the deep red almost borderline black stone. Shisui caught his, and was observing the pendant curiously. "Not that I'm doubting you or anything since it's common sense to ask, is this safe?"

Naruto nodded, "It is… I am pretty sure it won't combust on your faces at least."

"Ooh…" Shisui rolled his eyes, "That's nice?"

"Just trust Naruto in this." Itachi deadpanned as he putting the pendant on. "It's one you made especially for us, ne?"

He nodded, "I attuned it to your chakras… but as I said it's just in preparation for things to come. You don't have to worry about using it so soon."

Shisui craned his neck. "But the problem is not really a problem if it we can make it come at us when we want it."

"According to the information network of the Shiomitsu, it won't be…" Naruto assured him. "We are as alert as we could be for now."

"We trust you." Itachi muttered. "We always will…"

Naruto smiled softly, "… thank you."

That's the reason they're still going through with this risky plan, because they believed in each other.

 **A** **Few days later, Na no Kuni's forest.**

His eyes narrowed predatorily at his target, a lean and longhaired man. "Ruiga, the water user." He whispered as he unsheathed his blade.

Ruiga was a a formidable suiton user, and he was known to use dowsing to spot for water sources, extracting it from earth and manipulating it airborne to great effect. Though even if he was a formidable as suiton user, his overall skill as shinobi was another matter entirely. This man could be classified as one of those over-specialized shinobi who relies on their trump skills too much to the detriment of ignoring their development in everything else.

It won't be an easy task going aginst him, but with careful calculations and a swift execution it could be.

As easy as turning the back of his hand, his target followed him like a starving predator. All it took was a little goading from his part and Ruiga left the safety of numbers to his pursue his death. Then again he could not imagine the other two _brothers_ coming for this fool's rescue.

Ruiga came to an abrupt halt upon noticing the four tags he had placed on the trees in a square formation, laughing haughtily and not even bothering to move from the death trap. "You think such a basic trap could kill me? A standard Fūbaku Hōjin?!"

The Fūbaku Hōjin is a trap so called for an array of explosive tags placed around an area that can be detonated with a hand seal while also being sensitive to the proximity of any who enters the enclosed area. Should the trapped opponent attempt to move, the tags explode. Since the target was unable to move lest he risk being blown to bits, it was a perfect supplementary technique to subdue an opponent. It was however a basic technique that almost any shinobi above Chuunin level won't be caught dead on, not without having another trap layered on top of it.

He could tell what Ruiga had in mind, he could extract water from the earth without moving a muscle and use it as shield to absorb the blast. However what Ruiga didn't notice was the tags that were placed far above his line of sight, in the the branches above the very same trees.

Four tags with kanji 雷 on its seal array center.

The moment Ruiga enacted his plan, the seal's sensor arrays triggered by the presence of dense water natured chakra in the air went off and fried the water user Shinobi.

"AAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHH!"

Ruiga let out his last scream as high voltage electricity tore through his body. His assassin didn't even bother to listen to his howls of agony and moved on to his next target. Leaving four clones to confirm Ruiga's death and to inspect the body.

" _Hito_ _tsu_ _"_ _(one)_

Another letter of challenge issued, and neither Jiga nor Renga lamented the death of their youngest brother.

"Get rid of this pest, or I will personally kill you myself." Renga warned his brother.

Jiga swallowed, "Yes."

They still had to kill those benefactors who had sponsored this coup and until then they had not completely conquered this country. Jiga had no delusions that Renga alone could conquer this country without him.

A smile curved up tha assassin's lips as Jiga left Renga and departed into the depths of the forest, just like Ruiga did.

"Jiga, the user of magnetism." He whispered to no one.

The second brother was known for his magnetic abilities in spite of not hailing from a magnet user clan of Kumogakure. According to the intelligence they gathered, the ability came from his consumption of iron since an early age. Jiga _made_ his body to adapt with his unique diet that resulted in him gaining control over magnetism. However forcing his body to do that would gave him a glaring weakness.

Apparently he couldn't turn it on and off by will but by slapping his stomach, and he _had to_ turn it off after an extended use or he risks losing control of his ability. It would be easy to exploit this weakness like Ruiga's but the problem was, unlike Ruiga, Jiga had the physical prowess to back him up and was extremely proficient with his kusarigama.

He was not going to be as easy.

With that in mind the assassin hurled a barrel of exploding kunai towards the magnet user.

"That won't work!" Jiga shouted as he used iron sand to form a shield.

"We will see…"

The voice was mischievous, echoing trough the dark forest hauntingly. Jiga was not a coward but the voice was unnervingly playful, as if it was enjoying watching him squirm under relentless explosive attacks.

Jiga won't give in and squirm for his attacker, however under the continuous assault he started to squirm as he had to keep ability for too long and eventually had to stop. Jiga threw the biggest shield he could make and quickly abandoned his cover after it exploded, turned his ability off, and took out his weapon. If the assassin thought he would stay idle and fall for this meager tactic, the bastard had another thing coming.

The attacks were relentless but so far it had only been coming from one general direction, which meant that it's very likely there's only one assassin. As long as he takes care of the bastard, he wouldn't have to fear an ambush and advance as he liked. Jiga grinned as he spotted a shinobi dressed in a standard uniform, a vest, long sleeved shirt and pants, and the man was holding a kunai. Jiga was a frontal assault type of fighter but he could do stealth if he puts his mind into it.

He threw his kusarigama to the defenseless shinobi, only for his kusarigama to turn its target to smoke.

Jiga never saw the powerful wind blade coming from behind and he hollered in pain. Both of his hands were cut off and the last blade of wind tore his back forming a long gash. Jiga was barely conscious when he bled to his death.

The target's hands were cut off to prevent him from turning on his magnetism, a little overkill but better than sorry.

" _Futa_ _tsu_ _"_ _(Two)_

The last one was Renga and he didn't rush for the last brother, content on watching Renga throw a tantrum and unleash his fury on the greedy and disloyal courtiers of this country. Who was he to stop a criminal from murdering their kin and save himself from extra work?

Besides, Renga won't let himself engage the assassin who had killed his brothers in the dead of night. Renga in spite of being a shinobi, actually had a better advantage when fighting in broad daylight.

If he wanted Renga to come out with the same arrogance and ignorance like the other two brothers did, he had to call Renga out first thing tomorrow morning.

Renga didn't disappoint as the eldest brother retraced his deceased brother's path to their deaths while accepting his challenge.

" **Futon no Juujiika Fuuin** (Wind element cross seal)"

The brown haired Shinobi didn't bat an eye as his transparent barrier blocked the chakra enhanced shuriken, frowning when he heard a high pitched screech from his shield.

"Che." He grunted in annoyance.

His ice was as hard as diamond, and while it could stop almost anything, apparently a wind element attack could make a crack on it. Fortunately it was not enough to pierce his ice and injure him.

Deep in the forest, hiding in the midst of lush trees and vegetation, the assassin observed his target keenly. Out of the three brothers, Renga was the one whose technique he didn't get the secret of. There was an invisible barrier as the reports said, but when his shuriken hit the said barrier he could see the crack lines form on it.

Some sort of glass or the likes, but that hardness was like a diamond's. It was unlikely for it to be actual diamond though since one of the reasons Renga staged a coup in this country was for his lack of wealth.

"Hm…"

A feral voice whispered to him, and his lips curved up to a mischievous smile.

"I see… in that case he is no longer a mystery to me." He murmured.

Renga narrowed his eyes when a child walked out to the clearing he occupied. The child had his hands folded on his back, a serene smile on his face as he stopped roughly ten feet away from Renga. The older shinobi didn't move, not even an ounce of his being felt threatened by the child.

"What are you doing here, brat?"

There was no answer from the child, but the moment the child unsheathed his blade, Renga knew the answer.

"You came to kill me."

Once again the child's action was enough an answer as a giant wind blade tore its path towards him. For the first time, Renga felt threatened as he rushed to raise his ice shield. Just like before a hairline crack formed on his supposedly indestructible shield.

Renga felt his blood rushing to his head, and he wanted nothing but to wring the brat's little neck. On second thought he'd rather see the brat burn! With that in mind, Renga jumped to the air and landed on a disc he formed. But instead of seeing fear on the boy's eyes, he saw nothing but fascination and curiosity. In fact the boy was just standing there outright staring at him.

"Die!"

He had decency to look sheepish as an invisible beam struck the spot he occupied few seconds ago, melting the ground. So not the time to be distracted by observing Renga's technique. It was easy to dodge the attack because while Renga had a jounin's speed, his attacks rely on nature, therefore so as long as he could tell where's the missing nin was aiming the attack could be dodged.

If Renga thought he was the only one who could attack, the older shinobi had another thing coming. He faked helplessness as he let himself get a couple of close calls, and Renga in spite of being superior didn't bother to go down from his high throne and content to watch his assassin running around helplessly.

So focused in playing with his prey, Renga didn't even bother to look up. He only noticed something was wrong the moment the dot of light on the ground, the focus of his ice lens suddenly disappeared. He looked around and up as veil of endless white descended on him.

Renga looked around in panic as the ground below also covered in veil of mist, and he completely lost sight of his surroundings.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu?" He hissed.

" **True… "** A mischievous voice echoed through the air, and Renga tried to look for the source of the voice but it sounded as if it come from every direction. **"While I am no master of this jutsu, overloading it with chakra made the mist become very thick and heavy…"**

Renga gritted his teeth, raising his hand to expand the lens he occupied but nothing happen. "Why?!" His eyes widened when numerous chains suddenly sprung and tied his body in its iron hold, and he struggled to keep standing on his disk.

" **It's wasting a lot of chakra but with how dense my chakra** **is** **in the air it's** **now** **impossible for you to imbu** **e** **it with your** **own** **to shape that fancy disk of yours… or at least with your chakra capacity you won't be able to overpower mine."** The amused voice said, **"You** **may be a** **jonin level** **in terms of** **power, but because of your arrogance you fell to my trap just like your brothers…"**

"You! What do you want?" Renga gritted out in anger, struggling to get out of his bind.

" **Soten Ginsei'un** (Sky Clouded in Silver Stars)"

With no means to protect himself and no way of dodging the incoming attack, Renga could only watch as the endless white mist was torn by a torrent of wind that enveloped him in the embrace of its vortex. He was pulled in, screaming and kicking and the next thing he knew he was on the ground with cuts and bruises marring his body. He struggled to stand up but his body didn't obey. The sharp pain on his back told him that his back was bleeding and his stinging shoulder was a sign of a broken bone.

The boy approached him but Renga couldn't even lift even a finger as the sharp blade cut through his blue shirt, exposing the device he had carefully hidden beneath.

"My… what is this little toy you're hiding Renga-san?" The boy asked as placing a tag on his jugular and he could feel his whole body numbed. He couldn't even twitch; he was crippled from his neck down.

"You… who are you?!" He hissed venomously, hurling curses towards the boy.

The tip of the gleaming blade on his neck didn't unnerve him at first, but suddenly he could feel the blade heat up and started to pulse like a breathing heartbeat. It as if he had his neck on a jaw of vicious beast, not cold steel.

"Losers don't get to ask Renga-san."

The boy knew his name, while he didn't know the boy. From the beginning he was charging blindly to this battle, while the boy did not.

"Kuh." He grunted.

"Well then… I'd like you to answer a few questions… and depending on your cooperation, perhaps… you will not be reuniting with your brothers anytime soon." The boy promised.

Renga wanted to scream that he didn't want pity but he found himself saying in hoarse voice. "A loser doesn't deserve to live, as the strong triumphs over them… ask your questions and this dying man will answer you honestly with his last breath… I don't need your pity, kill me as you see fit as I am a weakling who didn't deserve to live any longer…"

"Is that so?" The brat asked, for once there's a tint of sadness in his voice. "That's your nindo huh?"

Renga just grinned as his eyes gleaming in madness. "Yes, it's my nindo."

" _Mittsu_ _"_ _(three)_

 **A** **Few hours later…**

Wakaba Ienari had been pacing within the safe house non-stop in hopes that he could somewhat lessen his nervousness. Of course it didn't work well as his mind kept going back to the child and his squad mates who had saved him few days ago.

It was a close call, and his country would have fallen to the hands of those criminals if not for those shinobi.

He had written that letter of request to the Tower of Konoha, in hopes that the Uzumaki clan still remembers their debt to Na no Kuni and help this country. It was his last hope and frankly he had expected the letter to be returned by Konoha because there's no longer any Uzumaki left in Konoha. He would have asked Konoha, but his poor country couldn't afford hiring their shinobi for this kind of mission. Their money had been taken over by corrupt nobles and the Three Brothers, so his only hope rests on the Uzumaki clan that would help them in light of their old friendship and debt.

Unexpectedly God hadn't abandoned him, or rather Uzumaki clan had not. He received a reply that requested him to hire Konoha shinobi for a C rank, which he still could afford with his meager savings. In the letter that was written in code his family learned years ago from the Uzumaki clan, he was instructed to hire Konoha Shinobi as a cover mission to infiltrate his country.

As expected those traitors didn't even bat an eye as a group of young ninja came to help their farmers to harvest their crops. He had chosen a correct timing too, as during that time those traitors were busy counting their earnings collected from the recently raised taxes, and could care less of a squad of shinobi in the country.

He was baffled when the youngest shinobi he believed shouldn't even be on the field but in the academy sneaked out of work and came to him. He thought the boy was a messenger, but apparently the boy was the one tasked to rescue him and replace him with a double. He was grateful to be saved from regicide, but he was more worried of what will become of his people in his absence.

The shinobi then assured him that as long as he was alive, he could deal with the aftermath and save his country when he retakes his place as their king. He was shocked when the boy introduced himself as the current head of the Uzumaki clan, and apparently the last one in Konoha.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, the clan head of the Uzumaki… as our contract decreed we would never abandon our allies until our last breath. Rest assured Lord Wakaba, soon we will free your country from their subjugators."

He didn't want to entrust something this heavy to a child, because sacrificing another child after what he had done to his Haruna was the last thing he wanted to do. But once again there's nothing he could do, he didn't have a choice as he accepted that child's hand and sent him to his battle.

Today was the promised day the boy said, apparently he needed to return first and report about his C rank mission to Hokage. Last night the boy had return to Na no Kuni, only to ask for his blessing before running off to his battle. The boy promised to return at the latest this afternoon, but the sun almost gone and there's no sign of the boy yet.

He dreaded the worst and hoped with all his being he had not just sent a child to death.

It took all his strength to not stumble the moment he heard five rhythmical knocks, a sign that the one on the door was his ally. He opened the door and never felt so relieved when he saw the bright golden hair of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Lord Wakaba, I have…"

Wakaba didn't let Naruto finish as the Daimyo pulled the stunned boy to his arms, "You're alright… I am so glad! What was I thinking to send a child to those criminals?!"

Naruto gently pulled himself from the gentle hug, "Lord Wakaba…" Naruto smiled warmly, "I am a shinobi, and an Uzumaki… don't see me as a child, I come in the name of my clan and my nindo. Please acknowledge that… as I have fulfilled my clan's promise to you." He said sternly, leaving no room for argument.

Wakaba swallowed, it took him few seconds until what Naruto said sank in. "I am sorry Uzumaki-ku… I mean Uzumaki-dono, well I…" He stood up, dusting nonexistent dust from his kimono, then paused. "Does that mean… my country… is saved?"

He nodded, "Yes… in fact I even payed your palace a visit and did a little sweeping through your military ranks and servants." Naruto explained the reason of his tardiness. "They're all loyal to you and regret not being able to help you milord, and I ensured it's safe to return to your palace."

After he warded the palace as secure as possible, of course, it would be a moot point if Wakaba is assassinated after he went through so much trouble saving the lord. Not to mention Wakaba was one of few kind and gentle souls he thought could only be found in fairytales, apparently someone like Wakaba did exist.

Kindness and foolishness kinda overlaps as a rule in this violent world, but he'd rather have this naïve Lord to live a long life and be reunited with his daughter.

" **You're getting sentimental."**

' _And? It won't hurt me and to have this kind of man on my side is nice… I don't need to fear him betraying me.'_

" **Is that so? But you** **fave** **to dread what the naïve lord going to put himself into for the sake of his country… ya know, I can imagine him throwing himself to invaders to save his people."** Kurama pointed, **"He didn't get the concept th** **at if** **the** **King dies, the country is** **bound** **going to fall sooner or later."**

Naruto ignored Kurama ranting on his head, most of the time he will listen to Kurama but sometimes Kurama's rants had to be tuned out to keep his focus. Beside he knew the consequences of making someone like Lord Wakaba as his ally.

Now all he needed to do was to keep building more connections, and soon it won't be impossible to free Wakaba Haruna. Being a hostage for so long the princess would have developed a better common sense than her father, and if he play his cards right… he could help Na no Kuni to prosper and more.

It's going to be a win-win situation for both Na no Kuni and his people.

**Konoha, two days later…**

To say that the third Hokage was displeased was an understatement, after all the old kage didn't give him leave to run off to Na no Kuni and make a name for himself by singlehandedly killing three Jounin level missing nin and saving the whole country. The other two elders were unperturbed by the recent development, there's no anger in their body language, just curiosity dosed with skepticism in their expressions. It seemed that they opted to wait and see before deciding their stance in this matter.

"I am so disappointed in you… Naruto- kun, you lied to me... as one of my shinobi this could count as insubordination to your Hokage."

That hurt as expected, but if the Sandaime hoped to guilt trip him with that the old kage had another thing coming. "Hokage-sama… " Naruto began, stopping Hakurei on his side from exploding in rage. "I did not lie to you… I asked for three days off, no more no less."

Sarutobi sighed, "You didn't tell me you're going outside of Konoha… and nothing about hunting missing nin either. Perhaps you didn't lie, but that doesn't excuse you keeping these kinds of secrets from your superior."

"As your shinobi, of course." Naruto admitted solemnly, "But my actions were not as your shinobi but as an Uzumaki, it's my clan's business with Na no Kuni and nothing to do with Konoha."

"Naruto-kun, you…"

"are the last Uzumaki of the main family." Hakurei cut Sarutobi off, "I recall when it comes to clan's internal affairs, that the Hokage has no right to interfere as long as it's not against the wellbeing of our village." Hakurei reminded the old kage. "It's Naruto-kun's duty as the head of Uzumaki clan and I recall there's been no unwanted casualties in this skirmish so what else do you want?"

Hiruzen glared at Hakurei balefully, "He is too young... his clan affairs is still under my authority."

"No, it's not." Naruto replied promptly, startling the old kage. "I am a chuunin... while most consider genin as an adults, the matter of one's clan could be acted on once the clan member becomes a Chuunin." Naruto reminded the Sandaime with stern voice, "And I am a 4th Dan seal master… I have proven myself perfectly capable in saving one of my clan's allies. If hearsay is not enough proof I am more than willing to hand over to you the heads of the Three Criminal Brothers, I am not interested in their bounties." He said as he placed a red scroll before them, neither of them moving to unseal its contents.

Mitokado Homura narrowed his eyes at the scroll, "I'm not interested to see their severed heads Chuunin Uzumaki. Your willingness to present us this is enough proof that you defeated them and your lack of fear of any investigation attempt in regards to this case."

Utatane Koharu nodded, "That aside… while they're medium-sized fish in pool of missing nin, it didn't change the fact that they were considered Jounin level opponents."

"And you're a chuunin... how impressive." Homura continued, and he could see Hiruzen tensing from the corner of his eyes. "I want to say another promotion is in order, but as you pointed out when we promoted you to Chuunin… your field experience when it comes to battle is still meager…"

Koharu sighed wearily, "Well… with the missions we assigned to you, it's no wonder… " She glanced at her kage meaningfully, "So regretfully we have to say that you're not ready to be a jounin yet…"

Naruto nodded, that was not what he wanted anyway. "Thank you Koharu-sama, I am well aware I'm not ready to be a jounin… I am still _inexperienced_."

No one missed the way Naruto's voice drop at the last word, "I see… though I have to say I can't ignore the fact that you're capable of taking down three jounin."

Naruto shook his head, "Three jounin, one at a time when they're at their weakest by exploiting their weaknesses and ignorance because of their perceived superiority… it's not a fair fight…" He elaborated the circumstances.

In a straightforward fight, the three brothers would have beaten him. Of course with Kurama 's help he would have beaten them but that was not shinobi like...

"We're shinobi, we are never fair." Homura corrected.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "I concur honored elder… I am merely want to make it clear that my victory over them is result of carefully planned strategy and not mere physical strength." He was trying to gain their recognition, and if he had to flaunt himself, so be it.

Koharu's eyes narrowed, a gleam of interest on her eyes. "In spite of the fact that this battle is not a sanctioned mission from Konoha, would you mind to submit a report of how you defeated them?"

Bingo!

Naruto smiled at them, hook, line and sinker. "Of course honorable elders, in fact I have it with me now." He said as he pulled another scroll from his pocket. "Just in case… after all information on missing nin is _always_ valuable..."

"You've prepared for this." Sarutobi noted, narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

Of course no one was fooled that Naruto had the report written by chance, the young Shinobi wanted them to read it. To be honest the elders didn't need the scroll to see Naruto had just painted of a billboard of himself as a perfectly capable Shinobi that they could use for more than menial tasks their kage was set on as the only missions available for him.

There's also underlying threat in this, that Naruto who was a Chuunin and in the eyes of Konoha law already eligible to be recognized as a clan head, he could take missions in the name of his clan as long as it won't endanger Konoha's interests.

"Lord Wakaba also requested me as the head of my clan to accompany him in his visit to our Daimyou to discuss a new alliance…" Naruto informed them with a smile, "It will be in ten days, and I'd like Chuunin Itachi and Chuunin Shisui to be part of escort… so in this opportunity I also will submit a mission request for the two of them… An A rank mission, which would be paid by Lord Wakaba and the Uzumaki Clan."

No one in the room didn't notice how the three veteran Shinobi tensed as Naruto innocently informed them of his plan, as if visiting the Lord of Hi no Kuni for political reasons was just taking another vacation. They would be blind to not see Naruto was starting to build his political influence as the head of Uzumaki clan, and with his Uchiha friends tagging along, it would seem that Naruto is just dragging his friends for a trip while anyone with the insight can see him actually involving the Uchiha clan as well as part of his political campaign.

For the Uzumaki, the old ally and distant relatives of the Senju to be allied with the Uchiha! The nerve of this boy!

For once Koharu and Homura was in the same page as their Kage, they had to stop Naruto or else. "Chuunin Uzumaki…" Homura began, "I suggest that you not get ahead of yourself, mind your place boy."

Koharu laced her fingers on the top of the table, her eyes never leaving the scroll of mission report and the mission request Naruto just submitted to them. "True… while it's impossible for us to not acknowledge the Uzumaki clan..."

You didn't discredit prestigious and noble clans like the Uzumaki even if they're extinct, not unless Konoha wanted to tear the spiral on their vests and discard their symbol.

Sarutobi could see what his old teammates were trying to get at, although he disliked it he had to admit this was the only loophole they had to exploit. At the rate Naruto was going, he was going to make a terrible mistake.

"If you keep this up, it would look like you're abusing your position for your own gain Naruto-kun." He pointed out with stern tone, "Ambition is good and all Naruto-kun, but mind your step before you trip… it's not a very good PR for your clan… in the eyes of our Daimyou."

If their Daimyou had a good head on his shoulders, but unfortunately that's not the case. It's fortunate Hokage had his ears, and Jiraiya too thankfully was Fire Daimyou's favorite so it's easy to maintain a good relationship and steer their lord away from anything that could harm Konoha and Hi no Kuni.

Naruto nodded in agreement, which was unnerving because he was unperturbed by the fact that he had no family members to speak of and accused for being too ambitious for his own sake.

"True… that won't put my clan in a good light. " Naruto said in somber tone. "Which is why I am going there on behalf of Lord Wakaba..." He beamed with genial smile on his face. "In the mission brief, Lord Wakaba requested me as such after all."

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at that, "And why should we accept this mission?"

"It's in the mission brief, Hokage-sama… " Naruto pointed out. "I suggest you take a look of benefits Na no Kuni can offer us."

He did as suggested with spreading the unrolled scroll on the table so his teammates could read the content too. His eyes almost bulged out of his socket at the list of benefits Na no Kuni dared to offer so boldly.

"They're going to give Konoha a monopoly over Shinobi missions from their country?" Koharu read out loud.

Na no Kuni was a small country but it was an agriculture country, which mean they had lots of menial task ranged from D to C that would be perfect for their Genin and Chuunin in training

Naruto nodded, "Na no Kuni is abundant in exotic crops that couldn't be found in Hi no Kuni… their soil is rich, so they also propose a fair trade with Hi no Kuni. They also agreed to nurture medicinal plants for our needs… farmers of Na no Kuni had a knack in domesticating wild plants." He explained and he could see the elders were inwardly salivating on the prospect.

Sandaime looked down at the mission details and then to Naruto. "And the only condition Lord Wakaba proposed is for you and your team to be the one who escorts him… which could be seen as reasonable from his view considering you're his savior."

Koharu sighed wearily, "There's not much of a choice… our Daimyou would want this alliance and you could only imagine his fury if he knows we made our country pass up this chance…"

Their lord's fondness of good food was famous, legendary even, and an alliance and good trade with Na no Kuni was like early birthday present for him. But still… was it worth it to accept this and dance to their jinchuuriki's tune. They didn't survive until their sixties with naivety, and they'd be a fool to see Uzumaki Naruto as a well meaning child who only thinks of making people around him happy and having them pay attention to him. That old Uzumaki boy was long gone and has been replaced by this cunning and ambitious young shinobi.

The boy wanted to appeal to their Daimyou now that his career was hitting a temporary dead end by their Hokage's hand. And he achieved a way to do that just that with this. It's actually not hard for Naruto with his heritage to appeal to the Daimyou, his grandfather Muramasa was an exemplary court Shinobi in his service period to royal family. In fact it would be more fitting to say Muramasa was thought as a paragon of virtue and was said to be the highest standard a court shinobi like the Fire Guardians should strive to achieve.

His son, Asuma was not amused to find that elegance and being soft-spoken in speech as traits he had to learn to adopt in his service.

With his pedigree, appearing before the Daimyou with one charming smile would be enough to make the royal family see him as second coming of Muramasa. It won't take much to convince the Daimyou to be his benefactor and worse, they could lose Naruto to the Daimyou. They couldn't even deny Naruto the right unless they wanted to explain his jinchuuriki status.

"Naruto." Sandaime began, searching for correct way to snuff this attempt to be a little rebel out. "We will consider this for now… after all it's not wise to be hasty. Na no Kuni is a peaceful country but their land had long been a bone of contention among the neighboring countries."

Homura nodded in agreement, "To form a treaty with them would involve protecting this frail country and to spare resource for mere crops to trade is…"

Naruto unexpectedly didn't even bat an eye when they presented him with a big problem in his plan, a waste of human resources from their forces. The boy just nodded in agreement with thoughtful look on his face, "True…" He concurred, "Our Daimyou will address this problem in the meeting for sure."

Sandaime frowned, "Naruto-kun… I think we're more inclined to reject this proposal and not bring it up to our lord in light of this matter."

He blinked owlishly, "Bring it up to our Lord?" He wondered out loud, "Why do we need to bring it up to him when he already knows and has agreed to it?"

The three elders gaped at him, looking at the boy incredulously.

"You did what?!" Homura gritted out, "Informing our lord without permission is a serious offense! You have no authority to do such thing!"

Hakurei bristled while Naruto raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I won't dare to overstep my boundaries that way… honorable elder." Then again as a shinobi he had ways to skim around that boundary. "Lord Wakaba sent a letter via Courier Ninja, and the meeting is just… part of the formalities I suppose. I am not too well versed in how nobles socialize."

The last one was a big fat lie, as Naruto probably held the record of being the non court shinobi with the most missions dealing with nobles. He didn't have the experience meddling in noble politics like court shinobi, but he sure as hell knew how nobles work.

"But this proposal…" Koharu hissed, "Weren't you the one to propose it?"

Naruto shook his head, "I'm merely a messenger, as I was on the way back to Konoha I was entrusted to inform you."

So they're actually one step behind of Naruto, or was it the lord of Na no Kuni? Or perhaps the Tower? Hakurei?

At any rate they had lost this, and Naruto, who was planning this or not was merely a messenger in this whole plot at the time being. There's nothing they could do to stop this unless they wanted to expose too many secrets to their Daimyou, and they definitely didn't want the Daimyou to find out that the villagers had treated Muramasa's sole grandson and heir terribly.

"Make sure to prepare well for this mission."

He won this round.

**Ten days later…**

They're traveling using caravans, and unlike most nobles it was more practical than lavishly furnished. In fact Lord Wakaba was resting on the cart with only a tatami covered floor, a small table and tea set as luxury. Naruto and his teammates were using the cart behind Wakaba's, and they were sitting on sacks of rice. Thankfully they're pretty comfortable while leaving guard duty to soldiers and a dozen of clones Naruto left outside. Sai and Shin in the other hand were guarding from the front.

"I can't believe we did this." Shisui grunted. "I mean… with Hokage-sama letting us off for doing this on his back."

Naruto sighed wearily, "It's not like I'm jumping up and down in excitement either . Just to have this wonderful opportunity took weeks for me to plot." He reminded the shushin expert. "And I'm not happy either that I had to call debt on Na no Kuni for this. I don't like to use people, even if they get benefits out of it."

Itachi nodded in agreement, "Hokage-sama and his teammates are going to tread very carefully around you after this."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "It's not like I have a choice… oh, I have! But that's standing idle and spend my days in bliss of ignorance while our village starts to screw herself!"

At the solemn look on Itachi's face, Naruto deflated.

"Sorry… I have been a little stressed lately."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Naruto… you…" It seemed that betraying the Sandaime's trust was not as easy as turning the back of his hand as Naruto thought. There's no way Naruto didn't feel guilt at all.

"I haven't done anything that warrants you to fret over me." Naruto said, rubbing his temple. "I am not the twelve year old ANBU here…" He glanced at Itachi then to Shisui who was decidedly whistling as if nothing was amiss.

It's been months since they became ANBU, and that meant their missions were getting even more tasking for the mind and body.

Usually ANBU members retired after five years of service, some with unusual circumstances staying longer like Tori's squad. But Tori and his squad stayed that long with guarding him as a permanent mission, which won't drive them insane no matter how hyperactive he used to be.

Itachi and Shisui however couldn't afford that privilege when their clan was grasping at straws for their honor and name. Unless Itachi and Shisui can somehow make a name for themselves on the same level as Copy ninja Kakashi, something nearly impossible in this relatively peaceful period, they couldn't retire without being ostracized by their clan.

Yep, the three of them were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"By the way… " Shisui as usual was the master of distracting people from gloomy stuff tried changing topics. "What are we going to accomplish from this mission, aside from… the mission itself, escorting you and Wakaba-sama?"

Naruto swallowed, "I am trying to determine how much influence my grandfather has in the royal family and if I can reap its benefits." He admitted hesitantly, showing how much he hated to use his pedigree to get any advantage. "Either way I want to try to get in the Daimyou's good graces... currently both your clan and I are under Konoha's government's authority. So I will make myself have some use for Hi no Kuni and maybe scare the elders a little…"

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "That's very risky… but isn't your pedigree an S rank secret?"

Naruto nodded, "The Daimyou knows so it's not a problem… and he also likes to keep secrets from the Hokage when the needs suit him."

"That daimyou?" Shisui muttered incredulously. "That wrinkled old man, whose wife unleashed the terror of all Genin named Tora?"

He waved his hand in negative, "No no… not that one, I am talking about the real daimyou of Hi no Kuni."

Silence fell in the room, as the two Uchiha eyed him with shock. It was comical in Itachi's case as there's lately so little that could surprise the stoic teen. Then again the revelation that the Lord they knew was not real or sort of in this case was like turning the world they knew upside down. It was actually not a common knowledge, and was only known by Hokage and his advisors. Hakurei was not supposed to know but his grandfather had the privilege to know the inside of the court and shared that knowledge to Hakurei.

Naruto crossed his arms against his chest, sighing wearily. "It's not like the Daimyou we know… Tokugawa Takechiyo is completely fake or some sort of body double." He began his explanation, clearing his throat. "He is the middle son of previous Daimyou after all."

Itachi frowned up at that, "But didn't you say… That the previous Daimyou used Hokurakushimon, the fourth Shiseiten to kill his oldest son so the third son could ascend to the throne?"

He nodded, Itachi had good memory as always. "True… the problem is, his youngest and most brilliant son that he favored was twelve years younger than Takechiyo. He was thirteen when the previous Daimyou passed away, so naturally Takechiyo ascended in place of the youngest son."

Shisui hummed at that, "Some sort of regent?"

He waved his hand in negative gesture. "No… as I said in spite of his young age Tokugawa Ieyasu is brilliant, so he made his older step brother to publicly rule Hi no Kuni in his place... and we all know Takechiyo is not that bright so he jumped at the chance of his brilliant brother backing him up."

Itachi titled his head to the side. "In short he is the shadow ruler of Hi no Kuni."

"At thirteen." Of course Shisui himself was not one to talk considering he was not much older. "Wow… but by now shouldn't he be much older? Why didn't he take the throne himself?"

Naruto sighed at that, "Which is why I am worried about dealing with Tokugawa Ieyasu, after so many years he is still content using Takechiyo as politic meat shield. Hakurei said he was fond of my grandfather, but looking at how he used his brother I really doubt it's going to help much."

"Is Wakaba-dono going to be okay? He is going to try to establish a trade and alliance with Hi no Kuni, won't he going to be hoodwinked or something?" Shisui asked worriedly, in the short time of knowing the gentle Lord Shisui found the man pleasant and would hate to get the kind man in trouble for their gain.

"It's just a trade agreement and a minor alliance… there's nothing much to be exploited from a peaceful and small country like Na no Kuni. According to Hakurei, someone like Ieyasu won't waste his time when there's bigger fish he has to be worried about like Kaminari no Kuni who keeps trying to paw on our lands like their Kumogakure." Naruto assured Shisui. "The reason I bring Wakaba-dono out of numerous Lords I am acquainted with for this is because he could propose a good trade and is not threatening enough to Hi no Kuni for Ieyasu to try anything."

Itachi sighed, "So… you're going to request an audience with him?"

"Not going to go that far… we will see Daimyou Takechiyo first but for the real one…" Naruto trailed off, "Ieyasu is so paranoid that only a number of Fire Guadians know of him. Getting his attention is going to be tough… but if he didn't want to see anyone... well no one has seen him for the last few fears."

Shisui frowned, "So what are you trying to achieve with…"

As one the three Shinobi tensed, their instincts flared in alarm when they saw Naruto tensing, a sign his clone was relaying information to him. Naruto flinched a little as he felt one of his clones dispel to relay the information.

"Just mountain bandits… " He said as he unsheathed his Hokuto Shichisei. "If we're lucky, Wakaba-dono won't know as long as we quickly wrap this up.

Shisui sagged his shoulders in relief, "Mou! I am almost thought it's ROOT again!"

Itachi frowned at his cousin, his hand on the hilt of Tenrou. "Don't let your guard down."

"I concur." Naruto narrowed his eyes as he recalled the memory that his clone transferred. "There are three leaders in their group… " He inclined his head to Northwest direction as they stepped out of the cart. "Around one hundred feet Northwest…"

"Number?"

"Around twenty or so?" Shisui answered, "It's always a pain trying to sense mook chakra…" He frowned. "Their number is steadily decreasing."

Naruto face-palmed, "It's Sai."

True to his word another ink lion came out of the cart Sai and Shin occupied, along with other animated ink beasts.

"While it's nice to see him taking initiative instead of waiting for orders unlike he was told in ROOT, He was supposed to wait... now unless the three leaders my clone saw are idiots, they won't be bothering to come out after that spectacle."

Shisui frowned at that, "True, there goes the chance of some bandit sweeping." He rubbed the back of his head, "The request to clean them up is going to Hokage-sama's desk sooner or later anyway."

"True." Itachi agreed, "This is one of the main roads to the Capital, they're incredibly foolish and overconfident if they think they'll survive prowling in this area."

Naruto shrugged, "We can eliminate them if they choose to engage us, but not the other way around because we can't leave the caravan unprotected for too long."

Shisui opened his mouth to say something but froze as he sensed three chakra signals closing in to them. "Naruto, Itachi… they're coming towards our direction."

"What?!" They exclaimed in disbelief.

Shisui nodded, "Seriously! What are they thinking?" He frowned, "Wait, now that they're closer, I can sense that they have decent chakra pools… around high chuunin to low jounin level perhaps?"

Naruto scowled at that, "Damn it!" He turned to the side, where he could see Sai and Shin already coming towards their direction. "Sai! Shin! Tell the Guard Captain and Wakaba-dono to speed this caravan up! Activate the barrier I prepared and continue guarding Lord Wakaba and his envoys! We're going after the leaders, we will catch up with you guys later!" He barked his orders as he and the Uchiha cousins leapt from their cart.

"Yes Naruto-sama!" Sai saluted before he ran towards the seals triggers Naruto placed in his cart while Shin went to another direction to inform Lord Wakaba of the current situation.

It didn't take long as the two groups were running towards each other, in fact the Konoha shinobi even waited for them in a rocky clearing as three men burst from the forest. They were indeed the leaders his clone saw, and they were followed by ten bandits dressed in tattered kimonos. The first was a dark skinned man, a tall bald man with pupilless eyes and manic grin on his face, wearing some sort of white cloth tied around his wrists and a short cape to cover his upper body. Second was a young man with spiky white hair, wearing a black kimono and scythe like sword strapped on his waist.

The third man made Naruto pause, as he recalled a face he recognized. The last member was a tall teen with slit eyes and cheerful grin, he was wearing a red tiger strip bandana to cover his head, a white sleeveless kimono shirt and black pants.

The dark skinned man hollered, "I didn't expect our prey to so willingly wait for us!"

"Hello there!" tall-and-teen greeted them cheerfully.

The white haired one didn't say anything but eyed the Konoha shinobi contemplatively.

Shisui eyed the dark skinned one in distaste, a typical overgrown bandit with too much confidence. "Out of curiosity… why did you come to us, usually no bandit would be stupid enough to continue trying to rob caravan guarded by shinobi." He couldn't help but pointed out.

As expected the dark skinned one answered, "We are the Sanshoku **(Three Colored** **ones** **)** and we fear nothing! Especially not three shinobi runts like you! I, Kuroi Sasori will give you a painful death!"

Naruto, Itachi and Shisui looked at each other and back to the three criminals. "Let me guess." Naruto began, "Is the guy with white hair Shiroi something and the guy with bandana is perhaps Benitora (Red Tiger)?"

The presumed Benitora looked at Naruto in awe, "How do you know my name is Benitora? Are you a physic or something?!" He asked in shock then as if an afterthought he added, "The guy on my left is Shiroi Karasu by the way so that also right on the dot! Man, you're good!"

"You're the one who told us you're the Sanshoku." Shisui reminded them.

"Oh, right!" Benitora grinned.

 _He is an idiot,_ they decided inwardly.

"At any rate… is this supposed to mean that you're not going back off if we ask?" Naruto asked rhetorically for the heck of it. "No?"

"NO! Brat!" Kuroi spat.

"I suppose not." Naruto rolled his eyes and without a warning he unsheathed Hokuto Shichisei and slashed it downward, creating a blade of wind cutting everything on its path.

The so-called Sanshoku quickly fled as the rock they were standing on was torn apart by the wind blade. Kuroi Sasori snarled at Naruto. "What the hell?! How dare you attack us so cowardly!" He and his companion once again had to dodge incoming attack, this time it a cyclone cloaked in flame as the two Uchiha combined their Goukakyuu with Naruto's Tatsumaki.

Kuroi was about to holler a curse but he scrambled out of the lightning threads that almost trapped him in a cage like barrier. "We're shinobi." Shisui pointed out as he drove Kuroi away from the group. "We never play fair, dumbass!" He pointed out the obvious as the dark skinned man scrambled to dodge his lightning.

Shiroi Karasu shifted as he dodged the wind blade and in an instant Itachi closed in, swinging Tenro in a vertical slash. Karasu backed away to dodge but started when he felt the blade ruffle the the top of his hair and managed to move away again, barely missing from being torn in two.

"What a long sword…" He couldn't help but comment. "Isn't it too long for you, boy?"

Itachi didn't answer instead coating his sword in flames as a fire dragon with a gaping jaw jumped out from his sword towards the pale skinned male. **"Enryuu** (Fire Dragon) " The white haired then man dispersed into white petals before materializing again behind Itachi who narrowed his eyes. "Genjutsu."

As the two Uchiha drove their opponents away deeper to the forest, Naruto was left alone with Benitora in the clearing. The spear wielder frowned when he saw Naruto sheathing his sword. "Oi… kid, I get it you and your friends are strong but that's no reason to underestimate me." He looked to two separate directions his friends had gone to back and forth. "You even went as far as to isolate us one by one, which doesn't really matter as much as we usually move on our own so it's not like being together can make us stronger by working together you know?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as Benitora circled him like a hawk, his fast movements leaving afterimages which stopped moving while he continued to circle aroun until there were eight of them.

"Yo!" One of them cheered.

Benitora grinned, "I am the shadow master!"

"Hei! Hei!"

"Even if you're a kid, you're a ninja so I won't hold back!" Another said.

Naruto just smiled at that, "Good choice."

"quite true."

"so true."

"very true."

Benitora's shadows all turned around and saw copies of the shinobi holding Kunai that was pointed at all of his copies. "This is..."

Naruto snorted, "A pretty neat teachnique you have there, a variation of our Bushin no Jutsu, one you created without hand seals… perhaps with the constant chakra emissions you were putting out when you were circling me around. That afterimage is not merely an afterimage but chakra that gradually takes shape to be your clone." A very simple trick but amazing nonetheless, especially…

Benitora shrugged, all of his shadows disappeared in a blink of an eye. "Well… as expected of a Konoha Shinobi, very observant."

When he dismissed them, there wasn't even a puff of chakra. If not for the need to move speedily to create those shadows, this technique would be a better version of the Bushin no Jutsu.

"Thank you." Naruto muttered, then his eyes narrowed. "As for your previous question of why we purposely separated you… Just from the way you interacted tells us that you're not really familiar with each other."

"Eh?! You can tell? Seriously?!" Benitora exclaimed incredulously.

Naruto shrugged, "We're shinobi of Konoha, teamwork is one of the core tenets of our strength."

"That's cool!" He complimented with a wide grin. "But why split us up then? You guys are better fighting in a team than individually like us." He couldn't help but ask curiously.

Naruto glanced at Benitora, his blue eyes find nothing but genuine curiosity. "We're about to, but looking at you changed our mind." He said as recalling the documents regarding the royal family that Hakurei showed him a day before their departure. "I asked my teammates to drive your comrades away because I am curious of you."

Benitora tensed and Naruto knew he had the man. "Wha… what are you curious about? Ha ha ha… I am not exactly a popular guy ha ha ha"

Naruto crossed his arms, his eyebrow scrunched at the laughing man. "Pray tell me… what is _the_ crown prince of Hi no Kuni like you doing here?

" **Tokugawa Hidetada-sama?"**

Benitora froze and stammered, "What are you talking about?! I don't know this Hidetada guy! Even though I am as handsome as a prince I am just…"

Naruto cut him off, "Pardon me, but please polish your lying skills before you try to lie to a shinobi… Hidetada-sama." He pointed out. "Your voice is shaking and you're averting your focus from me… you're a terrible liar."

Benitora groaned before he sat down and sulked. "Fine! You win!"

"I am not aware we're having a competition." Naruto said in confused tone. "Pardon me for being rude, but as a shinobi of Konoha I have to be careful with my conduct in presence of a member of Hi no Kuni's royal family… thus it's a must for me to confirm your identity… rest assured that my teammate isolated both Shiroi Karasu and Kuroi Sasori so this will not compromise your identity."

Tokugawa Hidetada straightened his back, and at once his laidback look changed to one that befitting of a regal prince. "Well… in Konoha those who're of noble birth who probably knows how I look like dresses like any other Shinobi so I can't tell. So… you're one of a noble shinobi clan?"

Naruto frowned at that, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto… my clan is distantly related to the Senju but we're not considered a noble clan in Konoha." Not officially at least.

The prince blinked at that, "Hm… Uzumaki, I've heard of your clan. Wasn't your clan the one who designed our security seals? It's really awesome, those seals are at least a hundred years old but are still functioning, then again, the Uzumaki have been said to be the best seal crafters in history."

A surge of pride ran through his very blood, and he suppressed his urge to grin proudly at the young prince. "We're flattered by your kind words... Hidetada-sama." He spoke in his clan's place, giving the prince a respectful bow.

Benitora snorted, "Cut the formality, I don't want that when I am outside of the palace." He waved his hand dismissively. "And since you caught me, I'm here for a covert mission from my father." He jerked his thumb to the direction in which Itachi and Shiroi went off. "The Sanshoku is working for a man suspected for plotting a coup against our country. I sneaked in when he man was looking to form an assassination group to work for him."

Naruto flinched, "My deepest apologies, we hope we have not compromised your cover."

He waved his hand in negative, "Nah… all of our lackeys went to support Kuroi and Shiroi, and thanks to you separating us… my cover is still safe and frankly I didn't need it anymore!" He laughed boisterously, and Naruto couldn't help but think Hidetada was not a type who cared about his princely image. "They're here to intercept Wakaba of Na no Kuni in hopes of gaining some leverage against my father and uncle… or so the boss said." He shrugged, "I am done collecting evidence against the suspects. I actually meant to leave them in few days, and if possible take those two out of the picture."

Not one to waste an opportunity, Naruto placed his hand above his heart. "If you don't mind, we will be honored to eliminate the enemies of Hi no Kuni in your stead."

Hidetada laughed at that, "I wonder how old you really are? You can't be older than ten, but you're very sly to try to gain my favor! But I really like you, a bit too respectful for my tastes but you didn't gloss over yourself to get in my good side!"

Naruto just smiled at that as he unsealed a flare launcher from his scroll and sent a red flare up to the sky. "Well… to be honest, it's a very pleasant surprise to find you here Hidetada-sama."

Well, sometimes luck was on his side, showing up in the most unexpected ways and he was not complaining about it. Perhaps he didn't have to ask for help from spies Hakurei planted in court after all and risk blowing their cover. He didn't even have to plan anything to draw attention to himself.

 **The** **Next Day**

"I see…" Hidetada said as they're on their last hour of their journey to capital. "You're on a mission to escort Lord Wakaba to my uncle."

Of course he would be crazy to reveal all of his plans to Hidetada when he just met the man, and he didn't have to do so either to get what he wanted. "Yes."

Hidetada suddenly closed in, his face was just inches from theirs. It almost took all of their will power to not react on instinct and attack the prince who foolishly entered their personal space. Not a very wise thing to do in a shinobi's presence.

His usually slit eyes opened, "You're seriously taking that kind old man towards my uncle? There's a Tanuki that will eat that man alive!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Am I right to assume that you're talking about your father? Hidetada-sama?"

He nodded, "Yeah… I assume you know how my family works, and call me Tora… call me Hidetada after we step on that stuffy palace of ours."

As one they wondered if having this easygoing guy as the crown prince of Hi no Kuni was a good or bad thing for their country.

"It's rare to have such a good old man in a position of power, and I would be damned if that Tanuki dad of mine exploits him."

As one the three shinobi waved their hands in negative gesture. "No, we don't think so. Na no Kuni is so small I don't think Ieyasu-sama is going to bother to exploit them."

"Like hell he won't!" Hidetada, now dubbed as Tora exclaimed. "That old man has grubby hands like you have never seen before! He is an old bastard who will use anything to get what he wants!"

Okay, it seemed that they're not so lucky after all if this how their prince voiced his opinion in regards to his father. In fact…

Naruto rolled his eyes to the side, "It seems that things are getting even more complicated."

He had to say he was almost worried that things were going too smoothly, it seemed his fears were unfounded since this mission would proceed the same as they usually do. A tangled mess of problems you couldn't see the end and beginning of , and strangely enough, he felt more comfortable in this familiar territory.

" **You know… even I am starting to get worried with how your mind deals with trouble and how you get use** **d** **to it."** Kurama voiced his long-standing concern.

' _Oh really… '_

* * *

**a bonus omake LOL**

As usual it was another warding mission, and Naruto was getting borderline sick of it, Itachi and Shisui tagged along as teammates-slash-bodyguards for the Konoha Jinchuuriki. After all Konoha didn't want a repeat of the kidnapping incident, especially since Hachi no Kuni was very close to Kaminari no Kuni. Then again if the Sandaime was desperate enough to take him out of the village since because of his long absence, or rather non-existent appearance in the public eyes of Konoha some idiots thought he died (again) and it was time to celebrate the Demon's death. The Hokage tried, but he was failing marvelously in hiding his peoples' folly. After all what reason could make the Sandaime request him to take a mission whose appointment was pushed one month early, having to exit his own village as discreetly as possible through a back door, even receiving a stipend for some relaxation on the road?

Seriously, at this rate the Hokage would have to make him appear at least once a month in crowded street of Konoha just to tell the villagers he was very much alive and they're prohibited from celebrating his death. Hopefully it would never come to that, and for now he would enjoy this paid vacation to the fullest as there's no rush to get to the nobles mansion at Hachi no Kuni.

Itachi, a connoisseur of Japanese quaint teahouses as always wanted to enjoy tea and sweets first. That was the closest to being enthusiastic Itachi could be, not that Naruto could blame Itachi. He had the same obsession with ramen. Unfortunately on the way to a teahouse that was recommended by a vendor they asked on the road, they came across a couple locked in passionate embrace right in the middle of dark and narrow alleyway they were going to use as a shortcut. They had used civilian method of travel as to not arouse attention to themselves if they took the roof paths. As it seemed the couple was too engrossed in each other and uncaring that they had an audience, the roof seemed better choice. So the three Shinobi exited the scene as silently as possible and took to the rooftops, ignoring the pointing fingers of people making a fuss over seeing shinobi, they're pretty rare sight in this country it seemed.

Shisui snickered as they descended to the ground. The street was secluded so they could blend back to crowded street unnoticed. "Man! That's one passionate horizontal tango! I think they're exhibitionist!"

"Shisui." Naruto chided. "Keep your opinions to yourself."

"Horizontal Tango?" Itachi echoed in confused voice, which made both Naruto and Shisui stop their stride. "Is that what they're doing in such place? A dance?"

Naruto and Shisui stopped in their track and at once turned their eyes to stare at Itachi.

Shisui stared at his cousin in disbelief, "Did you say those sentences with a question mark? Did I hear you right?"

Naruto stared at Itachi in horror. He couldn't be serious! Wasn't Itachi the one who is supposed to ask if he even knows what puberty consists of? Then again... Recalling the children of The Tower, they could be amazingly aware of the birthing process and yet have no idea how the baby could get to their mother's womb, or that some men prefer same gender's company and chalked it up as a different taste like some people like chocolate and other likes vanilla. But this was Itachi they were talking about! He was promoted to ANBU at eleven! The thought he didn't even know... Waiiiiiiiiit... that they expected him to know doesn't mean he knows.

"Uhm... Itachi, have you ever gotten _The Talk_ from your parents? Teachers in the academy?" Shisui asked hesitantly.

Itachi looked thoughtful for a moment, "Mother did mention something about how it's about time for father to tell me something... I believe she said it's a talk, and father looked pretty uncomfortable when she brought it up."

"So… did he?" Shisui pressed on.

Itachi placed his hand on his chin then answered, "For five minutes he keep repeating 'When a man and a woman loves each other very... very much' but he was never able to move on to the next sentence, and then one of his subordinates came and requested his presence in Police HQ. Father looked relieved when he told me he would continue some other time and went off."

 _Coward_ , The same thought echoed on their minds.

"The academy instructors didn't tell you?!" Shisui asked again.

Naruto shook his head, saving Itachi from trouble answering. "He was seven when he graduated, shinobi or not you didn't give a seven years old the talk... usually." He pointed out loftily, "But you do know about inappropriate touching if your reaction to Oda Nou's flirting is anything to go by right?!"

"I have been told of that by my mother when I was six." Itachi admitted, growing uncomfortable by his teammates' reaction to his lack of knowledge of horizontal tango. "That time father was working on a case of a child molester that was running rampant, so she deemed it prudent for all children of Uchiha clan to be warned."

Naruto stared at his best friend in disbelief, that Itachi is really clueless of sex. He understood dangers of molestation, rape and the likes, but apparently Uchiha Fugaku had no guts to sit his oldest son down for a short talk about the bird and bees.

Shisui gaped then suddenly he burst to a peal of laughter, "Ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe this! You… you don't know about sex?"

"I know I am a male." Itachi replied seriously, looked pretty murderous that Shisui ridiculed him.

Naruto looked between them back and forth, "Uh… Shisui is not talking about gender… Itachi…"

"Don't worry Itachi... all we need to do is hit one of good places of Tanzaku's red district! We look old enough to get some service and..." Shisui trailed off with a grin but never managed to finish his sentence as Naruto whacked him upside the head hard enough that he was sent crashing to a tree.

Naruto fumed, "You're not bringing Itachi anywhere! You hear me Uchiha Shisui?!" He roared furiously, waving his clenched fist at the older Uchiha. "If you dare, I will lock you up in my rooftop garden!" Naruto didn't really understand why both Itachi and Shisui avoid his garden like it was worse than T&I division's torture room, but looking at Shisui's paling face it seems to work wonders to threaten the shushin user.

Then he turned to Itachi who for once looked so naive and impressionable, there's no way in hell he could leave Itachi to stay clueless like this! He swallowed, should he really hijack Itachi's father's job? Then again the clan head seemed like he would avoid the said duty as long as he could.

"Naruto..." Itachi called him, "What is it that my father was supposed to give me a talk about and why you seems so flustered that Shisui is thinking to help..."

"Help?!" Naruto echoed in horror, "Itachi, that's not help he so much as he's trying to corrupt you! Seriously, my friend... so innocent... " He lamented, "You're not going even one step to a red light district before _I_ give you the talk! Or even after that unless for a mission!"

Shisui burst to another laughing fit, "Ha ha ha _YOU_ are going to give Itachi, the talk?! Wait! You already know?!"

"Of course, I know! What do you expect? I live with Shin and Sai, though that's not why I know! Besides... can I trust you to do it without any bad intentions to corrupt him?!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Shisui accusingly.

Shisui looked offended, and for a moment Naruto felt guilty. Maybe he was judging Shisui wrong, "Hey! I am not going to corrupt Itachi with any bad intentions!" It seemed he should apologize for Shisui for misjudging the older boy. "If anything I am going to save him from a life of celibacy! At the rate he is going, it's going to doom the Uchiha clan! If he grows up asexual without even having any idea of the comforts of a good mastu..."

Naruto silenced him again with another good whack on the head, "Don't you dare to finish that sentence! I even wasted few seconds thinking I've misjudged you!" Naruto shook Shisui back and forth, "You hear me, Uchiha Shisui?! What you're going to do now is go buy us some food and don't you dare to come back in less than three hours!" The talk itself won't take that long, but Itachi would need a head start to run from Shisui if the older Uchiha was getting ideas.

"I am still here you know." Itachi reminded them of his presence, and to Naruto, this was the first time Itachi was acting childish. He didn't pout, but by Itachi's standards to be offended that he was ignored was equivalent of pouting and sulking.

Naruto shot Itachi an apologetic look before he ushered Shisui to go away and do his errand or else. After Shisui was out of sight Naruto turned to attend to his other teammate, sometimes he forgot he was supposed to be the youngest and not their babysitter. "Itachi, let's go back to the inn and we will..." Naruto swallowed, "Have the talk about bird and bees."

**Inn**

He wished this place had a bookstore, but the closest thing was a tourism center that sold maps, guidebooks, and Icha icha. While the latter could be used if he wanted an easy way to get Itachi to understand reproduction process, but there's no way he was going to use the smut novels that Jiraiya of the Sannin wrote. That was not any better than leaving Itachi to Shisui's mercy.

"It's called the birds and the bees but more or less it's a talk to explain about sexual congress and pregnancy." Naruto said to Itachi who was watching him raptly,

"You know... maybe once upon a time you might have asked your parents 'where does the baby come from' and if you're under ten they might have told you that a stork brings the baby from somewhere, a baby factory, baby heaven, baby primary hidden village or some shit... to parents who were waiting in hospital for their baby."

Itachi blinked owlishly, "How do you know that's what my father told me when Sasuke was born?"

Naruto face-palmed, inwardly cursing the wonders of a human's mind in compartmentalizing things. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Itachi understood all about inappropriate touching, puberty and other sexual crimes but was clueless of how humans procreate. "Probably because it's the one topic any parents would find awkward to explain to their children no matter what era, so much that since the Rikudo Sennin's time no one bothered to be more creative in telling the cover story for their children until they're old enough to find the truth."

"I know it's a cover story." Itachi confessed, "I never believed it, because I was sure the baby's weight would have broke the stork's neck. I never said it out loud to my parents though since it seemed they were triying really hard to make me believe them."

The blond stared at Itachi in bemusement, "While I have to compliment the four-year-old you for being considerate of your parents, on the other hand I can't believe you didn't buy that story because of the fact that a baby's weight would have broken the stork's neck of all things." Naruto said in deadpan voice, inwardly thinking Itachi was a not a handful as a child but was actually a different kind of handful when he was four. "At any rate... I am going to explain to you about..." He sighed, "The process of baby making, love making, horizontal tango... whatever words humans have creatively invented for sex." Naruto mused, "Now... you know when boys and girls hit puberty their body starts to change?"

Itachi nodded at that, "Facial hair, change of voice, hormones..."

"Yes..." Naruto murmured, "Like any other creature on earth humans mature in both mind and body as they age, the biggest change would be in their ability to procreate." They didn't even get to the main part and he already had a feeling things was going south and beyond. "You have fangirls from academy days until now right?" Naruto ignored Itachi's cringe at the reminder, "At that time they probably just have crush... A puppy love for you, simply because you're good looking, cool, smart and so on... you know, standard shallow reasons they chalked up as true love." Even though they had zero idea of what true love is when they were seven.

The Uchiha's scion shifted uncomfortably, "Could we please not talking about fangirls anymore? I am not comfortable talking about them."

"Unfortunately they're the easiest example you can relate on because they've been constant in your life since you're six." Naruto said with apologetic tone, "Moving on... if we want to finish before Shisui comes back so we can have a head start running from him."

Itachi raised an eyebrow, he was still upset Naruto wanted to keep mentioning fangirls but he was more curious why they had to run from Shisui. "Why?"

"Itachi... Shisui is at the height of puberty now, there's no telling what's he is going to do to your impressionable mind." Naruto informed him helpfully. "Now that he knows I know and am telling you now, I don't want him getting ideas."

"I am not impressionable." Itachi said, he was offended Naruto of all people think he was impressionable.

Naruto snorted, "Normally you're not, but believe me... the talk does wonders to someone's mind for a while..." He sighed wearily, fortunately or unfortunately he found out himself from an educational book. Then again not everyone has a bijuu-who knows the blow-by-blow account of the night he had been conceived sealed in them. Fortunately Kurama liked him enough to not traumatize him more than telling him that the bijuu knows the details, unfortunately the threat was still hanging on his head if he ever displeases Kurama.

"Now... back to your fangirls." He ignored Itachi's subtle flinch, "When they hit puberty I am sure lately they didn't just giggle and blush when you walk past... I have seen them trying to give you a peek, cleavage, legs... and try to touch you too." Itachi's flinch was not so subtle anymore at this point, "You see Shisui trying to hit on every pretty girl he sees in hopes that they will give him a _good time_ as he put it... In a normal relationship usually man and woman go through this courting process to get their desired partner... and then move on to the next level of their relationship..."

Itachi nodded numbly at that, "Next level?"

Here comes the dreaded part, but since he was not even in puberty yet maybe it wasn't going to be that bad. It was like talking about someone else's problems. "Yeah... sexual intercourse, and I _really_ hope you're aware that a man and a woman have different sets of equipment between their legs. Are you?" Naruto waggled his eyebrow.

The older boy frowned before he gave a hesitant nod, "Yes..."

"Okay... " He breathed a sigh of relief that he knew was too early, he closed his eyes in hopes that it would be easier if he didn't see what kind of face Itachi made once he moved on to the next part. "Now... " Naruto droned on, "It functions as reproduction equipment... men and women have different sets, and since I am not going to lecture you about the wonders of biology... I am going to make it much simpler. All men have a penis, which produces sperm. While the women have a vagina, and uterus... which makes the egg."

"I see…"

Unexpectedly it was not that hard to say, closing his eyes really helps! "So... the sexual intercourse between a man and woman will involve both partners stimulating each other's sexual desire." Which he requested Itachi to read a proper book about it later but explained it was basically 'inappropriate touching' with consent on both partners... usually, "Moving on… the main thing involves a man inserting his penis to woman's vagina. Noted that for virgin women who never had sex they would have something called hymen so they will…" Naruto started to explain a bit of detail of woman's body and somehow along the way the topic went to a woman's monthly period, which made Itachi let out flustered stutter, making Naruto go back to the main topic. "Thrusting in and out for sometime... his seed, which is the sperm goes into the woman… fertilizing the egg on her womb… the fertilized egg grows inside the womb and become a fetus, then nine months later the mother gives birth to the baby."

Itachi didn't say a word, and Naruto took that as a cue to keep going. He opened his eyes but did his best to not pay attention to Itachi's face, in the hope that it won't be awkward and a message that he didn't mind what kind of face the Uchiha made.

"Now… while biologically sex is for reproduction, that's not the only reason for humans to have sex… the other reason, the simplest and also the most complicated is love… in our age I guess we won't understand the details but yeah, you love someone so much so you want to do stuff with them end of the story…" Naruto shrugged, "The third reason is simply because it's pleasurable… and this is why even without a partner teenagers will start experimenting with their bodies, touching themselves in sensitive areas… " He shook his head, "If you ever catch Shisui moaning in the privacy of his room..." Itachi nodded numbly, and Naruto saw that gesture from the corner of his eyes. "That's pretty much what he is doing…" Naruto finished, looking up as he listened as a certain nine tailed fox adding his two cents.

"I see…" Itachi murmured.

Naruto laughed softly, "Oh… and Kurama said… That humans will have the urge to do it after life threatening situations, a natural urge to preserve their species he said." Naruto shook his head exasperatedly; "He has an advice, if we ever have the urge to have sex after a life-threatening situation. It's a normal thing to feel, so we must get it out of our system even if it is done with touching yourself rather than risking your life fighting when you're in a need to get laid." Naruto snorted, "And be careful of your surroundings that you won't be caught by your enemies with your pants down." He finished, "Now… I guess that's the end of our talk, not so bad I hope?"

"I see…"

Naruto blinked owlishly, "Itachi… that's the only thing you have said so far in response, are you al…" Naruto trailed off then for the first time since the talk began turned to see Itachi's face. Itachi had turned interesting shade of red, and Naruto could almost hear his mind gears cracking. "I… Itachi, are you alright?"

Itachi opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, closed it, and then stuttered. "No… I think the world just turned upside down on me. Now I understood why father avoided giving me the talk that time. How could you explain all that with straight face?"

"I guess because I am not teenager with hormones yet? Or in Shisui's case, a horny hormonal teenager." Naruto said nonchalantly as if he was talking about the weather, "I'm not going to lie to you, but to me now… it's like talking about someone else's problems. Never mind my mental age, but physically I am still nine."

"Hn… I see…" He murmured with dazed face.

Naruto face-palmed, "Ah… would you prefer it's Shisui who…"

"No!" Itachi's eyes widened in horror, "You have no idea how grateful I am that you saved me from Shisui's talk!" He asked in incredulously, "You're right! He will try to corrupt me, regardless if he succeeds or not I am never going to hear the end of it from him!"

This was the first time Naruto saw Itachi lose his composure when it's not involving shinobi duties, his clan, and family. Then again knowing Shisui… "Ah your welcome, I guess?"

The Uchiha's scion swallowed, "I am sorry for troubling you with this… I should have known about this."

Naruto smiled at that, "It's no trouble Itachi… and don't tell me you should have known it like it's your fault. People around us assume a lot of thing because our status as prodigies… they just expect us to do well in everything, to know everything… " He shook his head exasperatedly, "But we're just like anyone else… we can't know everything, regardless of what they think of us."

True, for as long as he remembered everyone in his clan and in the academy took his talents for granted, giving higher and higher expectations without care of how much effort he has to put in just to meet their quota. Whenever he succeeded, it was seen as something he was supposed to do so and do nothing less. But whenever he failed, he was subjected to their disappointment that really hurt him as a child. Which was what pushed him to protect himself from the pain, so they would leave him alone.

Shisui was subjected to the same treatment, but not as badly as he was not the heir of the Uchiha clan. Shisui was also more carefree and not as easily pressured. Shisui didn't feel pressured by their clan's expectations and took it in stride. He never related to Shisui, simply because Shisui thought Itachi had the same opinions as he was of their clan's expectations while actually it was not the case. It was not Shisui's fault but his, since he was always careful in hiding his feelings.

"I can always speak my mind to you without restraint… and you never judged me, Shisui laughed when he found out I don't know about sex… you're surprised but you didn't say anything judgmental for my lack…"

Naruto sighed, "You know Shisui have no bad intentions right?"

Itachi nodded, "I am not angry he laughed, in fact even I find it's funny now that I have no idea…"

"I guess." Naruto agreed, "It's not that I didn't judge your lack at all… I just tried to understand why you don't… people around us are prone to take our talents and knowledge for granted, and we unconsciously or not will protect that image they have of us…"

Naruto on the other hand was just there and without the need to ask will understand what's going on his mind. Unlike him Naruto had been subjected to neglect and ignorance for most of his life. And yet people unfairly expected him to be as great as his parents. The sad part was no one in the Tower meant any harm with their expectations, Naruto if anything encouraged them to do so because he craved for their acknowledgement. He had been ostracized for most of his life that he accepted their expectations if it's what it takes to get that acknowledgement. It doesn't matter he knew the Shiomitsu or the tower would be loyal to him even if he fails their expectations, he was too used to conditional acknowledgement that his heart couldn't accept the concept of unconditional respect and acknowledgement.

They're not exactly the same, but they understood each other better than anyone else.

Itachi took a deep breath, "Nevertheless… I owe you…" He breathed out. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Naruto replied. "At any rate… I think he is going to come back soon, and we better avoid him for now before he drags you to a red light district for practice or something along that line…"

"No way…" Itachi growled.

Naruto agreed, there's no way Itachi could face Shisui in this condition. "Fine… let's ditch him in this inn and go to another inn, suppress our chakras so he can't find us, and I will keep him away for you on our way back to Konoha."

And so Shisui came back to find the room was vacated of Itachi and Naruto's belongings, save one note telling Shisui that Itachi needs some time alone and Naruto would kick his ass to next Tuesday if he dares to look for them. On the way back to Konoha, Shisui pouted like a five year old, moaning about being left out from manly bonding. Naruto informed him that they won't leave him out as long as he keeps what happened yesterday a secret and never mention it ever again or else.

Shisui agreed, but it didn't stop him from pouting. Maybe if he pouted long enough they would tell him more details of the talk, but unfortunately, no such luck.

"Pouting is so unmanly…" Naruto said with a smirk.

And of course, a certain blond brat always knew the right words to make him behave. Damn Uzumaki, he loved the brat platonically as a brother but it didn't stop him from thinking of strangling the brat sooner or later for being annoying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the 14th chapter and the omake!  
> Don't forget to review! It's my food, drink and air as an author and most of all LOVE LOL


	15. Prelude to Greater Things

**15th Legacy: Prelude to Greater Things  
**

_"I am, Uzumaki Naruto, and I am not a piece in game of life…_  
 _And in the first place, the world we live in can't be represented within a nine by nine board!_  
 _I don't move only in specified lines like a piece and as a shinobi, more often than not..._  
 _I don't play by the rules._  
 **Uzumaki Naruto to Tokugawa Ieyasu**

The Hi no Kuni capital was the jewel of the nation as a product of its unique landscape and architecture. The civilians' area was structured in the same manner as any other town, merely sprawling outwards further with three times the average population density; what made it unique was the presence of the royal palace and the surrounding area for the aristocrats. It was like a fortress with its mountainous landscape, covered in rough terrain littered with stairs cut into the rock leading up to the doorways of exclusive residences perched, terrace-style as the ground rose.

The grounds were inundated by trees, sakura and willow and peach, turning the landscape into a sea of pinks and yellows and greens, which left the air heavy with their sweet fragrance. Not that the nobles would eat the fruit— he had learned from other nobles that they planted peach trees to ward off evil and for its scent and beauty throughout the year. As they approached, the sun was setting, bathing the world in purple and silver, the lines of lanterns failing to provide more than a soft, flickering light that only enhanced the surreal and eerie splendor that had been cultivated.

If Naruto had just been a practical shinobi, he would scoff at the seemingly mystical area that had no practical function whatsoever. However, as an Uzumaki, he knew better; it was all part of a giant seal crafted by his ancestors that had secured the capital, leaving it standing strong and largely untouched by time after more than a century.

This city… it was also a part of his clan's legacy.

"Ah, you're smiling," Shisui pointed out the quirk on his lips. "You look very happy for some reason, Naruto."

Naruto blinked owlishly, touching his lips and found his lips forming a smile. "I am?"

"It's beautiful… the scenery," Itachi reasoned, "Such a simple thing is enough to make people smile."

Naruto laughed at the two Uchiha, they had the wagon all for themselves again after Hidetada decided to go ahead to inform his uncle and father of their arrival. "It's partly that," he allowed, "But looking at this view reminds me: even if we're now apart, my clan's legacy lives on… even in this city." He murmured softly, gazing at the view with longing in his eyes.

Ah… he needed to get stronger as soon as possible such that he would be able to legally claim his seat as Clan Head and restart the effort to search for survivors of Usuzhiogakure's Fall. For his clan… his family.

Then, suddenly, a flash of red appeared on the corner of his eyes, disappearing as quickly as it appeared behind the lush willow trees. "Just now…"

"Naruto?" Itachi called him out.

Shisui looked anxious, "Don't poke your head out so suddenly like that! You startled me!"

The Uzumaki looked like he had just seen a ghost, and it worried his teammates. "Naruto? Did you see something that bothers you?" Itachi guessed.

The query snapped him out of his daze and Naruto quickly returned to his original position, a sheepish expression colored his face. "Ah… no, I thought I saw something but I was probably just imagining it."

It was already pretty dark outside and the red lantern dyed the scenery in red tint so…

It couldn't be… right?

* * *

**Houou no Shiro**

Naruto had, to be honest, expected some pomp and ceremony or something along the line of theatrics nobles tended towards. Tokugawa Iemitsu, however, certainly did not share that common taste for theatrics considering, the moment they stepped inside the palace, Wakaba-dono was escorted to see their official Daimyo, while he and his team was halted by someone who looked disturbingly like a young Sandaime dressed as one of the Twelve Guardians. The younger lookalike didn't bother introducing himself and merely stated his task was to escort them to his lord.

"It's been a while, Asuma-san." Itachi greeted the Sarutobi.

Inwardly, Naruto gave himself a mental slap for forgetting that the Sandaime had a son who was appointed as a Guardian around two years ago. Hakurei had mentioned Sarutobi Asuma in passing as "Sandaime's wayward son, who went off to get a bounty on his head as part of misguided teenage rebellion."

Asuma eyed Naruto skeptically, "It's none of my business," he began slowly even though, Guardian or not, Asuma obviously considered Naruto's presence a concern due to his status, "But since when was Uzumaki given permission to wander this far from Konoha?" He wondered out loud.

He had a carefree air to him even within the halls of his employment but Naruto could tell this man was dangerous.

"As a Chuunin of Konoha and sole heir of Uzumaki clan, Naruto has right to travel as long as he follows the proper procedure," Itachi replied, professionally.

His eyebrow shot up at that. "Chuunin? Already?" He shook his head exasperatedly, "Mah, what's with Hokage lately? Promoting kids so young… we're in peaceful period and yet…"

Itachi exhaled softly. "We work hard to be worthy of our promotion, Asuma-san."

Asuma waved his hand in placating gesture. "I am sure you all do, but be kids when you have the chance— we're not in war now."

On the surface at least…

"Still, for Uzumaki to be escorted to the Capital by the two famous prodigies of the Uchiha clan, no less…" His eyes narrowed at them.

Inwardly, Naruto hoped Sandaime's son was not suspecting Itachi and Shishui had kidnapped him. "Naruto is our friend," Shisui answered, lightheartedly.

"Still… you guys are unusual combination for a team." Right, an Uzumaki slash jinchuuriki plus Uchiha. "What are you guys are up to?" From his tone, it was obvious that he had no expectation of being answered; instead, he was voicing his suspicion of them out loud. It was a warning. "I doubt the Hokage allows this boy to wander as he please."

This time Naruto didn't let Itachi to answer for him. "When it is a product of Clan business, not even Hokage-sama has authority over me so long as said business is not a threat to Konoha…"

Asuma looked shocked, obviously not expecting such eloquent answer from Naruto. "Hoo…" This was not the adorable toddler he saw last time, playing around his father's office. "And what clan business are we talking about here? Especially considering who you want to meet and who got you this appointment."

"Asuma-san, is this an inquiry out of curiosity or an interrogation?" Shisui returned, eyes narrowing at the Sarutobi.

Asuma didn't expect one of the Uchiha to feel offended on Naruto's behalf, let alone both of them. 'Yare, yare, tou-san, how the heck have you gotten these two Uchiha elites to be our jinchuuriki's protective teammates?' They didn't even belong to the same generation.

"Shisui," the youngest shinobi in the group called out, "It's fine."

For a moment, his eyes flashed red but quickly darkened back to their normal, ebony orbs. "Hn."

'So the one who calls the shots in this team is the squirt?!' Asuma thought in bewilderment.

"My business is with Tokugawa-sama… should he allow you to remain, I'm sure you'll know all about it."

In short: quit asking, if your lord thinks you're allowed to know, you will. How old was this brat was again? Around… eight or nine, and he already had silver tongue. Asuma swore, back at the Academy, even Kakashi was not like this brat; mature? Yes, but this brat was like a de-aged adult!

* * *

Naruto looked around, eyes flickering but his head was held still. Once upon a time, his grandfather, Muramasa, was walking through this majestic corridor with massive red pillars on both sides, shoji doors covered in a red and gold painting of immortal bird, and lanterns of various sizes hung on the center of corridor ceiling, illuminating the path and painting the scenery in warm tint of orange.

Then, by the end of the corridor, he saw it: a row of massive and elaborate shoji doors guarded by two soldiers dressed in black and red armor. And behind this door… Naruto swallowed, suddenly nervous.

Asuma stepped forward, "Tokugawa-sama is expecting them, the escort team of Wakaba-dono from Na no Kuni."

The guards nodded before bowing in unison as they pulled the doors open for them. Asuma was about to lead the way in but the guards crossed their spears, blocking his path. "Ieyasu-sama ordered you to go back to Takechiyo-sama. Your service is not needed for tonight."

Asuma gritted his teeth around his cigarette, "So who is by Ieyasu-sama's side now?"

"Mahiru-dono and Tatara-dono." A guard answered curtly.

* * *

The wind user glanced at the team. "I see…" Mahiru and Tatara were shinobi that were solely loyal to the royal family— Ieyasu himself to be specific— and they had no previous affiliation to Konoha or any other shinobi group as Asuma did. He had heard rumors from back home regarding suspicions of the Uchiha's involvement with Kyuubi's attack, and if that was true… not to mention they had brought Naruto with them.

If they wanted to inflict harm to Ieyasu, Mahiru and Tatara were not going to survive the ordeal.

As if they could hear his line of thought, a young voice assured him from behind. "We're here for diplomatic business. I think you should know that at least." Followed by a groan Asuma deducted as belonging to Uchiha Shisui and a signature Uchiha grunt from Uchiha Itachi.

Then, as if their business with Asuma was over with, the Uzumaki-Uchiha team walked past him without a single glance and disappeared behind the massive shoji doors. Looking at the barrier between them, Asuma could only hope he had not just done a great wrong to his home village.

* * *

**Tokijikuin (Ieyasu's personal Quarter)**

Tokugawa Ieyasu had an intimidating presence— not in the way the Sandaime or Hakurei had with wisdom and aged strength coiled within an old body or any other Shinobi variety kind of intimidating— he was a man in his fifties with long ebony hair that reached his shoulders, with white streaks around his ears. He had sharp eyes that were focused like a hunting eagle's, a high nose and a defined chin. Unlike most nobles that wore brightly-colored clothes showing off their status, he wore a plain outfit of dark red kimono, black haori and dull brown hakama.

Naruto only got a brief glance at his face before he and his team were kneeling, face tilted downwards however he did manage to get a good look at Ieyasu's hands, as, he was sure, Itachi and Shisui had also. Ieyasu had calloused hands, and his skin complexion was far from pale.

Definitely not your everyday noble that spend their days reading poetries and whatever else nobles did in their spare time.

"Thank you for this opportunity to meet you, Ieyasu-sama. It is an honor," Naruto began in even voice. "I am Uzumaki Naruto from Konohagakure…"

Ieyasu's voice sounded amused. "And the two Uchiha over there?"

"My name is Uchiha Itachi," He answered, "Of Konohagakure… also the heir of Uchiha clan."

"I am Uchiha Shisui of Konohagakure."

Ieyasu's eyebrow shot up at their name, "Hoo… heir of Uchiha clan and Uchiha Kagami's son? What a line we have here…" He glanced at Naruto. "You, however, I have never seen an Uzumaki with that hair color. Though I do recall an old acquaintance of mine with that kind of hair…"

He was not going to entertain anything less than blunt regarding Naruto's not-so-secret pedigree, it seemed. "I am indeed my grandfather's grandson." He answered vaguely.

"So, Uzumaki?"

"Yes."

Ieyasu crossed his arms with a cocked brow. His strong hands disappear beneath his wide sleeves. "What are your intentions in revealing yourself here, Uzumaki Naruto? Calling for an old debt of mine to a family whose name you don't even bear?"

Naruto swallowed heavily, that was a sore topic even for him. "No… I am not here to call out an old favor, I don't deserve it."

"So what is it you want from me, boy? His grandson or not, I don't have all day for a shinobi with no interest in serving me."

"Then I shall be direct, Ieyasu-dono," Naruto steeled his resolve. "What I want is political backing from royal family of Hi no Kuni."

A heavy silence fell before it was broken by a low growl from the kunoichi who was standing guard on Ieyasu's left. The shinobi on his right looked amused, while Ieyasu himself merely seemed thoughtful.

Ieyasu narrowed his eyes. "But what can you offer me and my family in return, boy?"

"Everything I can offer as future head of Uzumaki clan," Naruto answered firmly, keeping the possibility wide open. Not the wisest thing to promise to a man like Tokugawa Ieyasu, but Naruto was desperate. "Within reason, of course," Naruto added as an afterthought, his inexperience showing.

He snorted. "Future head of Uzumaki clan, huh?"

"Officially," Naruto elaborated. "But in practice, I already hold the authority as the Clan Head, within the boundaries of the Tower of Sealing." He exhaled softly before adding. "It shouldn't be long before I inherit full authority, officially."

He could, even now, because, as he had told Asuma himself, Hokage-sama had no power over clan business as long as it didn't harm Konoha. The only thing stopping him from doing so was simply because it was more trouble than it was worth at the present time due to his position. However, as long as he had strong backing from an outsider who still had affiliation with Konoha— namely Ieyasu— their path would be smoother.

"My, why is a young shinobi like you playing the game of politics already?" For the first time, the shinobi who was standing in the background spoke out and, much to Naruto's surprise, Ieyasu didn't reprimand him for speaking out of turn. Sensing Naruto's curious look on him he added, "I am Totsuka Tatara. Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun."

He was a slim young man with short, neatly-combed, light brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a simple brown kimono top that was slightly open, exposing the black inner shirt and elaborate flame tattoo. A more elaborate looking ANBU tattoo with more tongues of flame.

HOMRA… Ieyasu's very own personal guardians. The shadow Twelve Guardians of Hi no Kuni.

"I am the weakest among my team, though!" It was very clear one thought crossed their mind, 'Who was going to buy that?' Even though Totsuka Tatara, with his gentle smile, handsome face and lithe build, fit the description of 'weak looking' to a T.

"It's true," Ieyasu confirmed with amused look on his face. "Though I believe I don't keep useless people around me."

"I am flattered, milord," Totsuka Tatara chimed in before turning his attention back to Naruto or, to be precise, the Uchiha cousins who were kneeling few steps behind him. "I suppose it has something to do with your Uchiha friends… Their clan has not been in a favorable position for the last few years, after all."

Naruto forced back his bodily reactions to not give away his shock. He should have expected that Ieyasu was not ignorant of Konoha's politics. Itachi and Shisui were in the same condition, and shame crept up in their hearts.

"So, it's for your friend?" Totsuka asked gently, like asking a young child what those cookies they stole from the jar for.

No wonder Ieyasu kept this man around; with just few well-placed words he was making a fool out of them! Naruto looked up, for the first time really looking at Totsuka Tatara. And there were no negative emotions from this man at all...

He could tell that much from Kurama's side effect. Unlike the other bijuu, Kurama didn't grant him some unique elemental power, instead providing something subtler. It was the ability to sense ill intent and it was very useful once he let go of his rose-tinted worldview. Although… back then, it was probably a good thing Naruto was oblivious; he would have been driven insane had he noticed all of the rotten thoughts from the villagers who hated him.

This person however… Naruto looked up at Tatara, his eyes narrowed. This man was really treating Naruto and his teammates as children with no ill intention whatsoever.

Shinobi were used to deceit and lies, so sincerity and open honesty more often than not threw them off of their tune. Naruto knew this very well; after all he was usually the one on the 'giving' end, not receiving. "It's for Konoha." He answered firmly, and his friends were part of Konoha so it was not just about a small part of his beloved village.

Even if the large part of its populace were oblivious and ungrateful fools.

"An idealist, hm?" Ieyasu smirked. "To protect your village in the name of your Will of Fire?"

Naruto stilled, holding his tongue from denying that remark recklessly. He inhaled deeply and said, "I don't see myself as such… as a shinobi of Konoha, I do believe in the Will of Fire, however…" His voice hardened, losing all trace of his childish traits. "I am not so foolish as to think of my village as they might be depicted in the Will of Fire… I am not so blind as to not see how they are rather than how they choose to present themselves."

Ieyasu uncrossed his arms, his pose relaxed. "So? What is Konoha?"

"A shinobi village…" Naruto answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Konoha was born of Senju Hashirama's and Uchiha Madara's dream… their ideology. But a child never grows to be the perfect image their parents idealized… and neither did Konoha."

"So, unlike most of your fellow Konoha shinobi, you don't place your village on a higher pedestal than other villages." He sounded amused. "Not even in morality?"

Naruto shook his head, "It's a matter of perspective; perhaps we're just better at hiding our skeletons. Regardless of what kind of image we sell to our clients, we still took part in three great wars and we kill our enemies as much if not more so than other village… In the end, we are shinobi."

"You speak as if you have seen war," Ieyasu pointed out in skeptical tone.

He had seen it, through the eyes of his parents at least. "I believe you're aware of what I am, Ieyasu-dono." The lord narrowed his eyes at that statement. "We exist as deterrent of war but at the same time, we're also the greatest weapons available. I have been in this position since I was born. Do I have to see war to fear and hate it?"

"So you will refuse to aim your power to Konoha's foe."

"I am a shinobi of Konoha," Naruto stated with conviction. "I would do what I believe is the best for my village."

Ieyasu let out a booming laugh in respond, surprising them as the sounds escaped the notorious lord's lips, uncensored. "Ha ha ha ha… As expected of Muramasa's grandson! You haven't even ever met him and yet! You have the same resolve as a shinobi!"

In Ieyasu's mind, Muramasa was always… a man with gentle soul, and yet his hands were ever forging steel to protect his country. Once, in his youth, Ieyasu had asked Muramasa why the man became a shinobi and stayed loyal to Hi no Kuni and Konoha even though he had seen the dark side of his homeland. Instead of some complex justification, he had simply replied that it was because Konoha and Hi no Kuni, they were his home. And he loved his home so he would do the best he could do. For them.

No convoluted words, no complicated motives… Muramasa was a simple man.

"However, at the same time, I don't think you're him. You are not the same as Muramasa," Ieyasu drawled after he regained his composure. "So I wonder… What it is that makes you different."

"…"

"I have met your father, too, and I have to say, you are not him either." His eyes narrowed. "If I have to compare Muramasa and Minato, it becomes obvious that they both had a gentle soul as a person while simultaneously possessing the heart of steel as a shinobi…" And the father and son certainly weren't identical in personality, but, at their core, they were the same.

Uzumaki Naruto however was not cut from the same fabric as his father and grandfather.

"So show me," Ieyasu ordered in an authoritative tone that left no room for refusal. "Show me who you are… Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto looked up and, for the first time since he met Ieyasu, the shinobi met Ieyase's eyes with a firm gaze. "How would you like me to show you?" He asked in an even tone.

In answer, Ieyasu ordered Totsuka to bring an object forward and Naruto cursed inwardly.

* * *

**Ten Minutes Later...**

He sorely regretted leaving the choice to Ieyasu; he expected something along the lines of a mission or a riddle. Boardgames were… a traditional method for nobles to measure someone's skill, and even their personality, so it didn't surprise Naruto that Ieyasu pulled out an elaborate looking shōgi board and asked for a game.

Expecting it or not, however, Naruto didn't like playing strategy games like shōgi. While he played shōgi, Go, riichi and other games just fine, he was not a master for all that he was a good enough player. It was part of his education as heir of Uzumaki clan, after all. Nevertheless, Naruto disliked exercising strategy in the confines of a board; real life battle didn't work like a game.

He didn't feel like he could show Ieyasu who is he through a board game.

Clack!

As of now they were about even, but Naruto had no delusions that it was because he had sufficiently held his own against Ieyasu. The ebony-haired lord was taking this slow, probing his defenses, and waiting for Naruto's respond to his attack. Regardless, Naruto would like to believe he was playing reasonably well for someone with less than one year experience under his belt.

Clack!

That move just now was the equivalent of chopping off one of his limbs in battle by kicking his keima off the board and preventing his gold general from escaping. Naruto fought his hardest against the following onslaught, but in the end, he was just stalling the game to go on as long as possible while looking for a chance for counterattack.

So far, he saw none. Ieyasu definitely didn't care about playing it easy against someone with lesser experience. He didn't hold back at all. At this rate, all Ieyasu could see was what kind of player and how much experience he had. How informative was that?

Some illogical part of him just wanted to win the game just to prove Ieyasu wrong that he could get an easy win from Naruto, while the logical part reminded him that he was not playing to win; he was here to get acknowledgement from this man.

However, when he saw a chance to counterattack, a way to win the game, Naruto's hand moved his piece with resounding clack against the board. He sweated heavily as he read the board, ascertaining for himself that the opening was not a trap.

It wasn't… Then Naruto realized it was only an opening simply because no one but he would be crazy enough to do this kind of maneuver just to get an even ground at the risk of his king piece. He had just sent a message to Ieyasu that he was a risk taker who jumped at the smallest opening even at the cost of the game.

Definitely not what he wanted Ieyasu to think of him. It was not…

"We're even now." Ieyasu stated the matter of factually.

Huh. He didn't even notice they were on stalemate now. A small part of him was delighted with the situation, even though this draw was hardly skill. Instead, it was partially luck, partially the unpredictability of suicidal maneuvers, and stubbornness.

"But now what I wonder…" Ieyasu said and for the first time he sounded unsure to Naruto's ears. "You're not the kind of person who can reflect yourself fully on the board. Apparently, this game is not enough to know you as much as I like."

His heart began to pound, partially relieved that Ieyasu was aware of this and partially dreading what the lord was going to throw him next.

"Well then, let's cut the chase, shall we? Instead of some complicated game of wits and skill, why don't you just tell me, Uzumaki-kun?"

Tell you what? He wanted to say, but he stayed still and waited for Ieyasu to finish.

The ebony-haired man smirked at him and Naruto realized, whatever Ieyasu was going to say next, Hidetada's father was definitely playing another mind game his son hated so much.

His hand swept over the unfinished game and he continued. "Which side are you on upon this board? What are you representing… in this world, Uzumaki-kun?"

'You must be fucking kidding me!' Naruto cried mentally in shock. 'That was too vague!'

"It's a simple question," Ieyasu stated smugly. "Don't you think so?" The sarcasm was so thick and a small part of him was vengeful enough to wish for Ieyasu to choke on it.

He looked at the shōgi pieces and the board laid before him and then to the face of true ruler of Hi no Kuni. He could feel those dark eyes staring into the depth of his soul, daring him to make his move. A move that would decide their future and, if he made a wrong decision, everything he had worked so hard for would crumble beneath his very hand.

"I—" Naruto stammered.

"Now, boy. Choose the piece that represents your standing on this board. Tell me who you are! Are you a keima (knight) or perhaps a mere pawn?"

Naruto didn't answer but he knew he was neither.

"Or perhaps…" The dark eyed ruler flipped the hisha (rook) piece. "You are a daring piece: a sleeping dragon waiting for his chance to ascend to be the ryūō (Dragon King)?"

Shisui and Itachi felt a fear unlike any other they'd experienced before as they knelt behind Naruto who was still contemplating his choice. They didn't know if there was any way out of this as their trained minds told them that the Daimyō's question was one of those trick questions with no correct answer. If Naruto lowered himself, that meant his worth was not enough for Tokugawa Ieyasu to pay any attention to him, but if he dared to choose ambitiously, he would be seen as a would be usurper, a dangerous piece.

There was no correct answer within the board, and Naruto, too, knew that. So he chose to do the craziest and unthinkable thing ever recorded done in the history of Hi no Kuni before the mighty ruler. He flipped the board down and sent all the pieces clattering onto the tatami floor.

Ieyasu smirked. "So that's your choice… Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes."

Naruto barely acknowledged the sound of restless shifting behind him; no doubt both Itachi and Shisui were doing their best to not jump between him and Ieyasu. All Uchiha had ironclad control of themselves, and that impressive control was on the verge of breaking in fear of his recklessness.

He wanted to assure his friends that he knew what he was doing but that would be a lie because Naruto was operating on 'what felt right', not what he knew was right, now.

"I am, Uzumaki Naruto, and I am not a piece in game of life… And in the first place, the world we live in can't be represented within a nine by nine board! I don't move only in specified lines like a piece and as a shinobi, more often than not, I don't play by the rules." He stated, a matter of factually.

Ieyasu's eyes narrowed, piercing his own. "You are a child, and yet you're saying you're a player, not a piece."

Naruto inhaled deeply and continued. "If I am a player, I should abide by the rules. I am not. I will not. And you should know that you have never talked to a child, but to a shinobi by the name Uzumaki Naruto…" His eyes shifted briefly to the side before it gazed back evenly at Ieyasu. "At least in mind, I have long since ceased to be a child."

He didn't even know when he had stopped being a child. One day, he woke up and he saw children in the tower as 'children'. And he was not one of them.

"So you claim to be a mature adult?" He sounded even more amused now.

"Claiming maturity is self-defeating, I would say…" Naruto cocked his head to the side.

Ieyasu smirked. "You're an interesting person… Naruto-kun."

It didn't escape Naruto that Ieyasu called him by his given name now and not by his surname. "I aim to please," he quipped.

Ieyasu cleared his throat. "So about your proposal…" He trailed off, rubbing his chin. "I approve of you as a person and a shinobi… and an alliance with the head of Uzumaki Clan is rewarding, regardless of your position. However…"

Naruto wondered when 'the but' would stop. "However?"

"What do you want to do with political backing from my family?" Ieyasu asked him bluntly. "Proving your worth as the heir of Uzumaki clan? Revenge against the villagers who wronged you and your friends? Or perhaps you want to conquer Konoha yourself?"

The first was still a reasonable guess but the latters were outrageous. "For the first, it is none of Konoha's business considering I only have to prove my worth to my clan members and our vassal families… Revenge would get me nowhere and go against everything I live for, and I have no interest to rule Konoha."

"So you have no dream to be the Hokage?"

Once, he had such a childish wish, thinking that if he became the Hokage, the villagers would acknowledge him. He knew better now; it was the reverse. Someone became the Hokage after the acknowledgement.

* * *

**Konoha (Sealing Division Tower)**

"An apprentice?" Yuzuriha mouthed out. "Me?!"

Hakurei nodded. "You're already Sixth Dan— by rights, you should have started thinking about taking a disciple when you get your fifth." He cocked his head to the side. "Come to think of it, it's just about time for Naruto-sama, too." He was already the Fifth Dan now, and at the rate he was going, he would take qualification exam for Sixth Dan, soon.

It was almost scary how fast he was storming through their ranks, even for an Uzumaki. Then again, their master abused Kage Bunshin like it was going out of fashion on a daily basis.

Yuzuriha scoffed, "I will take it slow, Shishou. There is no rule saying we have to take a disciple."

"Actually, in Naruto-sama's case, it becomes a must if we want to stop this charade." Namely, Hakurei posing as the one in charge of the tower while, in reality, it was Naruto-sama. "I believe Naruto-sama is more than capable of gaining Ieyasu's trust. His soft spot for Muramasa aside, Naruto-sama has a knack in getting people to side with him… An amazing charisma I have never seen since Mito-sama."

Yuzuriha was sure that if Naruto-sama was here, he would yell at Hakurei for throwing around compliments he didn't deserve— or so their master thought— but everyone knew otherwise. "Well, taking a disciple would be another boost to Naruto-sama's credentials." And as leader of Sealing Tower, it was part of his duty to tutor the next generation.

Tokusa, who was sitting beside Hakurei as filing his paperwork chimed in, "Does Naruto-sama even has time to tutor someone?" Then he added, "And who?"

"…"

"…Who?" Yuzuriha hummed, searching for candidates on his mind. "Mu-kun, perhaps?" Mu, or Murasaki, was the youngest Shiomitsu child, and Shion's son.

Tokusa waved his hand in negative. "Mu-kun is three years old— even if he starts early, Shion-nii, as his father, should be the one who handles the foundation stage of his education. Atla is a better choice." Another cousin of theirs, who was two years younger than their master.

Hakurei shook his head. "Shion just submitted paperwork to take Atla as his disciple yesterday." He sighed, "Besides, do you think Naruto-sama is the type who would take a disciple for formality's sake?"

"Jaa~ Then we can take an outsider, then? Naruto-sama would love to promote our openness to Konoha with taking disciple from outside!" Yuzuriha exclaimed.

Shion, the eldest disciple of Hakurei came in just in time to hear what Yuzuriha said. "And that would be another political nightmare, don't you think?"

"Eh? It's not like our sealing arts gets famous overnight. Requests for tutoring might be trickling in but we're not the most fashionable art after the main nin-tai-gen," Yuzuriha pointed out to her cousin.

Shion sighed at that. "No, we don't get famous overnight but… due to the recent overhaul of all security seal systems in prominent clans of Konoha," Because of Aizen's betrayal, no one wanted to use seal designed under leadership of a traitor, "They seem to finally realize that our seals run almost everything that was automatic…"

There was a good reason why Hashirama married Uzumaki Mito, their eternal alliance aside. A village couldn't work without a working system and, in its baby state, Konoha had to establish a running security, information, communication and whatever else, using seals. Sure, it ceased to be all seal-use as Konoha's manpower increased, but Konoha was still built with fuuinjutsu as its foundation.

So say, if all active shinobi were sent out on missions, all fuuinjutsu-based systems would still be running and Konoha would be relatively safe from invasion. Relative was the keyword but still…

"As I am the one in charge of new applicants, it had surprised me to find that most of them are from prominent clans," Shion added with a sigh. "I mean, how moronic would it be if they just realized how vital our art in this village now, right?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

* * *

**Back to Houou Palace**

"I plead you to not take this child under your wing, Ieyasu-sama!" The kunoichi, who went by the name Mahiro, said while glaring at Naruto. She was fairly tall for a woman, with a curvaceous body that was wrapped in a short, sleeveless, black kimono with a red obi. Her tattoo of HOMRA was shown proudly on her left breast.

Naruto was very tempted to roll his eyes at Shisui who was trying his best to not look so obvious while ogling the buxom kunoichi.

Ieyasu just raised an eyebrow at his kunoichi, while Totsuka chided Mahiro. "Why not? Naruto-kun is a wonderful shinobi! Our master has just taken a liking of him and you know our master doesn't like just anyone."

"He has nothing to give in return!" She pointed at Naruto with gloved finger. "And you know that getting in Uzumaki-Senju-Uchiha affairs never ends well for anyone!"

Naruto, Itachi, and Shisui inwardly winced in unison at the last remark. They couldn't blame her for thinking that getting involved with them was a bad idea.

"Which is why there is the concept of "investing", Mahiro-chan~ And as for their family history, I believe, in the end, it's their business not ours," Totsuka assured her. "Besides! Our country and kingdom are still standing today even though… we got a new valley."

"There is a good reason why none from the Senju and Uchiha clans managed to attain guardian rank!" Mahiro pointed out with a hiss. "I don't even want to know the next new landmark the so-called Rikudo Sennin's descendants are going to carve upon our nation."

Apparently only Konoha Shinobi saw Valley of The End as a mark of history; everyone else thought it was the result of a family feud gone wrong.

"Totsuka, Mahiro." The two shinobi stilled in instant. "Be quiet."

And just like that, the two arguing shinobi quieted down, becoming very still on their seats to the point Naruto was concerned whether they were breathing or not. Ieyasu seemed to tolerate his shinobi's antics to a degree, but he still had ironclad control over them. The following silence was almost deafening, but Ieyasu looked to be deep in thought and Naruto didn't dare to interrupt.

The silence was blessedly broken five minutes later with a bang, and all heads whipped towards the shōji door that had already been thrown off of its frame. Itachi and Shisui, who had opportunity to meet a certain youthful jōnin, wondered if Tokugawa Hidetada was somehow related to him.

That was one loud dynamic entry.

"Don't you dare to corrupt Naruto-kun, you— tanuki-yarou!"

"Huh?"

* * *

The following chaos made Naruto regret hoping for the silence to end. It took fifteen minutes and a chakra chain to get Hidetada to calm down. It didn't escape anyone's notice that Hidetada was drunk.

Apparently Ieyasu was winning the award for the Worst Father of the Year, and Hidetada had an interesting childhood with a father like his. In short, his paranoia and disdain towards his father was all legit and, all things considered, it was a miracle Hidetada had not plotted an assassination instead of running away from home.

Naruto was sure everyone in the room agreed that their prince shouldn't touch alcohol at all if he ended up spilling the entire story of his life just from a few sips.

"Then I found out that I am half Uzumaki and Okaa-sama is not my Kaa-chan!" He babbled on from his chained state.

Naruto's eyes went wide at that as his eyes went to Benitora's shaven head and spotted the signature red hair of the Uzumaki. "What?!"

"I am so glad to see you, little cousin! But you just have to make me to bring you to my tanuki-oyaji…" He cried somberly.

Naruto's brain tried to process the fact that, not only was Benitora distantly related to him, but that Ieyasu had taken an Uzumaki as his consort. There must be some sort of convoluted backstory here and, judging from Ieyasu's bored face, the lord expected this to happen and was not bothered Naruto— the Head of Uzumaki clan— knew about this.

"So, cousin, let's leave this stuffy palace, and bring our clansmen together! We will live happily ever after as one big family! Away from the Tanuki-bastard!" Hidetada babbled on.

Naruto promptly grabbed Hidetada's forehead and said, "Okay, that's enough."

Benitora yelped. "HOT! Gyaaa!"

Channeling Uzumaki chakra mixed with a small dose of Kurama's potent youki, he detoxed Benitora's body from alcohol. It was a nifty trick he had learned when, out of curiosity, he had asked Kurama whether or not it was possible to use a bijuu's chakra to detox toxins and the likes from non-jinchuuriki bodies. According to Kurama, in theory, it was possible but only for humans descended directly from Rikudo Sennin or naturally in possession of a sturdy body that could with stand a bijuu's chakra.

Like Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

Shisui and Itachi had volunteered as test subjects before and it had worked but it was definitely not the most pleasant experience for them. The good news there was that no damage to their body occurred as long as Naruto mixed the chakra with some of his to neutralize the corrosive nature.

"Gah! What the…!"

"Have you come to your senses?" Naruto asked. "You know… Hidetada-ōji, if you want to take part in this discussion, you have to be at least sober."

Benitora blinked. "Call me "Tora", and I didn't mean to get wasted this badly but…" He glanced at his father with eyes narrowed and clouded with anger.

Naruto didn't need to know personally know either father-son to guess; they got into an argument and Benitora got himself wasted, only to crash the meeting just to spit on Ieyasu.

Shisui and Itachi, who had been too quiet even for Naruto's taste, tapped his shoulder. "Oi, Naruto… I think we've stumbled upon something we shouldn't have."

"Are we in trouble?" Itachi wondered from his other side and, for once, Itachi sounded hesitant. Political support was one thing, getting involved in their internal affairs was an entirely different can of worms.

To be honest, Naruto wasn't sure himself. "Eeh… to be honest, things getting complicated now should fit our track record. I'm sure we can get everything to work out… somehow."

"Naruto! I am telling you! There must be something wrong to be relieved in this kind of situation!" Kurama cried from the depths of his mind.

Naruto rolled his eyes mentally, 'Oh you… Kurama, you worrywart.' He cut the connection when Kurama started to rant again. "So, Ieyasu-sama, about our business…"

"Hidetada-sama!" Mahiro began to protest. "Even though this boy is related to you, he—"

"You do realize if your prince is related to Naruto, it means that he is also like us? A descendant of Rikudo Sennin?" Shisui pointed out.

Mahiro growled at him and, for one stupid moment, Shisui thought her growl was hot. He kept his opinions to himself though. "And you know… I don't know how the court shinobi system works but, as far as I know, shinobi shouldn't question orders from their superiors… especially when said superior had already gone through a lot of trouble to decide upon it."

Totsuka smiled at Shisui who beamed back at him. "He is right, you know." Mahiro snarled. "Unless, you can raise a valid concern regarding this alliance… Besides, we have not heard how this would go yet. Ieyasu-sama has not said anything about the details. To disagree with our Lord is simply…"

Ieyasu scoffed. "I am up to giving all the political support Naruto-kun needs including educating him in politics, philosophy, and law."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that. That was too extensive for a simple alliance. "You're going to make me your ward? But that means me losing my rights as an adult in Konoha law."

"Something that official is beneficial in the long run, but I imagine your council will put up a fight considering your pedigree and status." Naruto sighed in relief. "However, in the end, I have to justify my backing on you if I want to go that far so I will just have you engaged to my daughter."

Silence…

Once again, eerie silence fell over the room as all the occupants, except Ieyasu were shocked out of their wits. Totsuka recovered first, commenting on how a political marriage could work and how this was getting even more interesting. Mahiro and Benitora were next, with one pleading her master to reconsider while Benitora started screaming at his father.

"Milord, this is already too much! Just because he is Muramasa-sama's grandson, it doesn't mean he deserves to be a part of your family!"

Ieyasu rolled his eyes. "I am not looking at second coming of Muramasa, and surely I know better on who deserves that right." Mahiro shrunk in shame at the reprimand.

"He is nine, you sick tanuki! My sister is thirteen!"

"There is no age limit for engagements, my wayward son, and no one said I was marrying them now. As for the age difference… do you have something to say to Lady Gou who is eight years older than you?"

Hidetada flushed red for, while they were engaged for political purposes, he liked his fiancée a lot even though they were eight years apart. He was so not going to bring up the topic, unless he wanted to get kicked six ways to Sunday by his fiancée.

Political marriage… was not a foreign concept to Naruto, but his vassals didn't teach him this. They were afraid that mentioning the unpleasant part of his duty as the clan heir would upset him. It was something he expected to be part of 'being the heir' of a prominent clan.

While his parents married for love, it didn't escape Naruto's notice that his father married his mother after he had gained both his reputation and title. It was not much a stretch of imagination that Hakurei and Sangetsu had set a condition for their marriage. Heirs of prominent clans couldn't marry as they pleased without 'the good of the family' being involved, simply because their marriage was not just between two persons, but also involving the whole clan.

He sighed. "That makes sense."

Benitora suddenly was already in front of him and Naruto absentmindedly noted 'he is fast' and rolled his eyes attune 'are you crazy' look he got.

"My father just told you to get engaged with my little sister as 'payback' for the political backing he promised to you," he said pointedly. "He is putting a leash on you that ties you to our family and your response to that is "that make sense." Are you for real?!"

Naruto shrugged. "It's some sort of insurance," he replied, equally pointed, "This is politics… And it can't be as simple as I scratch your back and you scratch mine." With no guarantees that no backstabbing will occur when one's back was turned.

"You're fine with marrying my sister?! We're related, ya know!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Alright… so, is your mother's name Uzumaki Fusou?"

Benitora blinked. "Erm, no?"

Then Naruto began to list ten more names and Benitora answered negative to all of them. "In that case, your mother is most likely very distantly related to me, and we're past second to third cousin for sure."

"Her name is Tsubone," Ieyasu supplied helpfully. "Her family name is Miyanaga though…"

Typically, a lot of Uzumaki hid their surnames by either not using one at all or using fake one. "Tsubone?" Naruto echoed, recalling list of name from family records. "I am not sure her name is on the list… that's not her real name either, ne?"

Hidetada's eyes widened "It's a custom that, when someone becomes a Tokugawa, they receive new name—her birth name is Masako."

That was one name Naruto had mentioned. "Oh… then she is my mother's third cousin, once removed." She was still very distantly related to him.

Shisui hissed. "Oi, Naruto, are you seriously okay getting engaged to a girl you don't even know?" He whispered to him. "I mean, what if she has buck teeth or thick lips?"

Considering Uzumaki features in general plus a Tokugawa's, Naruto was sure that was very unlikely. "This is a political marriage." Looks didn't matter that much.

Hidetada opened his mouth to protest again, but Totsuka beat him to it. "Then… should we solve this shinobi-style?" He suggested with a disarming smile that didn't match his tone.

Ieyasu smirked. "Oh? I thought you weren't against this arrangement, Tatara…"

Totsuka beamed. "I'm not— while it makes sense to tie the knot with the Uzumaki Clan, we have to take it to consideration that if we go this deep," he gestured towards Benitora, "Your heir, Hidetada-sama, has to agree."

"…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, digesting the implication. This alliance would be a long standing one and Ieyasu was not getting younger. Considering his position, it was not much a stretch to think he could drop dead without warning and leaving Hidetada to rise into power. There was no point in getting the alliance now if Hidetada would dissolve it in later years.

"You mean shinobi way as in…" Naruto trailed off.

"A team battle," Totsuka finished. "You and your team versus Hidetada-sama, me and Mahiro… 3-on-3!" He beamed.

Naruto frowned. "Why a team battle? This alliance-"

"Your clan is affiliated closely with the Uchiha, ne?" Totsuka continued. "Not officially, at least, but still." That was not a wild guess.

Naruto had never felt this naked in front of strangers who had only known him for less than a few hours. "Yes, but—"

"Then it involves them, too. Considering your ancestry, they're not really—"

Itachi interrupted. "We only share Rikudo Sennin as our ancestor…"

Totsuka blinked and shared a look with his master. "Ho… please don't tell me you have no idea who Muramasa was married to?"

"Mayumi-baasama— I do know my grandmother's name." Naruto couldn't help but felt offended of the accusation.

Totsuka shared another look with his master, who looked amused by the whole ordeal. "Alright… That aside, Ieyasu-sama, do you agree with this?"

Ieyasu smirked. "Well… why not? Mahiro, Hidetada, if you disagree with my decision, you better win." He said in saccharine tone. "If you lose this match, I will not hear any objection from you… And, Hidetada, if by some chance I 'croak', as you put it, this agreement is permanent and set."

Hidetada gritted his teeth and turned towards Naruto. "You know, Naruto, you're a good kid… No, you're a good guy," He corrected. "There must be some other way for you to achieve your wish without getting involved with my father. That's why… I will defeat you and your team."

Naruto inhaled softly. In the end, that shōgi match only served for Ieyasu to judge his character and nothing more. He glanced at Totsuka who was smiling innocently; Ieyasu had plotted for this to occur from the beginning. Shōgi could only show a small part of his character and what wits he possessed; it didn't show him power.

This was how this world works: without power, you couldn't change anything.

* * *

**Underground Training Room**

This must be where the shinobi in service for royal family trained. The room, though large, was void of decoration and appeared to be built entirely from concrete. Naruto noted some part of the room had the ceiling height built around the same as other room he saw in the palace, most likely this place was designed with simulating battle inside the palace in mind.

"Hm…" Benitora stretched his legs then craned his neck. "Yosh."

He was very confident, Naruto noted. It didn't seem he was unfamiliar with his father's bodyguards so they must have been working together before if he had faith in their teamwork. This won't be easy for sure.

Not to mention… Naruto glanced at the sword on his waist. It was shuddering, clacking against its sheath. 'Hokuto Shichisei… it's whining.' He turned towards the Uchiha cousins, finding both of them eyeing their respective sword with unease. 'Shibien and Tenrou, too…'

It was no wonder, though. Shiseiten were initially forged to protect Hi no Kuni and the royal family. With Benitora as one of their opponents, the Shiseiten were rejecting taking any part in this fight.

Naruto heaved a sigh before he untied Hokuto from his waist. There was no point keeping Hokuto with him if he ended up drawing the sword reflexively and Hokuto turned on him. Maybe Hokuto wouldn't, considering he was Muramasa's grandson, but it was better to be careful than sorry later.

"Hoo… I am surprised to see the three Shiseiten back." Ieyasu's voice boomed through the room, and Naruto glanced at the viewing booth on their left that was covered with seal-reinforced glass. There must be aa transmitter seal somewhere in this room, Naruto guessed. "Though it seems they're not cooperative due to my son's presence."

Naruto glanced at his teammates, seeing that they had also taken the Shiseiten off of their backs. They had coming to the same conclusion as him. "I am glad," he couldn't help but say. "They're right to choose you two." The Shiseiten were weapons first and foremost, but they were sentient to some degree and thus, had their own will.

Itachi and Shisui respected their swords as a legacy of his grandfather, so they didn't force the sword's will to theirs. "It's just sad," Itachi said, looking over at his sword that, at last, stopped quivering in its sheath. "It would be like turning us against Konoha."

Shisui was rubbing his cheek against Shibien now. "Sorry, Shibien~ I will not force you to do anything you don't want, alright?"

Naruto sweat-dropped. He was happy Shisui loved Shibien that much and' did Shibien just purr back? "Shisui…" It would be a huge handicap, losing their swords.

"So those are the remaining Shiseiten…" Totsuka Tatara's voice cut his thought off. "And all three of them for one team…" Naruto didn't blame Totsuka for shuddering.

Mahiro eyed the three swords with stars in her eyes. "Those are Muramasa-sama's…" Her eyes hardened. "To give out Muramasa-sama's legacy just like that…" She growled.

Naruto scowled. "Shibien and Tenrou chose their owner themselves— they've been given the right to wield the Shiseiten because they're worth it."

"Mahiro." Benitora's voice was hard and the kunoichi shrank. "You're being very rude to them." Then, with a stern voice he ordered, "Apologize."

Mahiro looked like she had been slapped. "But—"

"Now." Hidetada reiterated in a tone that left no room for argument.

Her lips trembled as she forced herself to form the word, but Naruto didn't let her. "Don't," He refused. "There is no point in listening to an apology born of an order We will prove our worth… then she can apologize to my friends."

With their Shiseiten safely stored inside storage scrolls, Naruto, Itachi and Shisui stepped into the arena. Standing in a line across the West side of the room which Benitora's team occupied. All of them formed the seal of confrontation, a seal that looked like half-ram used as universal sign of engagement between shinobi.

"Hajime!"

As soon as the signal was given, Naruto moved first. Speeding using his Hikō no Fūin and passing through between Totsuka and Benitora.

"Heh?" The Uzumaki didn't attack them?

With a poof of smoke two shuriken appeared on his hand, and Naruto threw it in their direction.

Totsuka didn't miss Itachi doing the same from the opposite end. 'Two shuriken from two directions against a three man cell? Something is wrong…'

Mahiro pulled out her own weapon from her waist, a pair of short sword with curved blades that resembled a spider's claw. "Don't under—"

Totsuka didn't let her to finish as he pulled her hand and jumped to the side with Benitora followed closely on his heels. Then a tornado of flame exploded as soon as the two shuriken were within close distance. Benitora and his team had to outright run from the whirlpool of flame before it engulfed them.

It died down after three seconds and as soon as their back was turned, all of them were locking blades with their respective opponent. Tatara with Itachi. Mahiro with Shisui. and Benitora with Naruto.

Mahiro had to withdraw from the close contact; the right decision as, at that moment, Shisui activated his sharingan. Tatara, on the other hand, chose to avoid eye contact by blowing a seal-less Goukakyū at Itachi.

Itachi was shocked to see his clan's signature jutsu used so skillfully by Totsuka— it was only a small fireball around the size of an adult's head but it said a lot regarding Totsuka's chakra control.

"How?"

"Hm?" Totsuka had his eyes closed; the older shinobi apparently was capable to fight blind. "How did I know your shuriken was a bad news?" He quipped. "Simple: it was intuition." Their weapons clashed, sparks of fire erupting from the friction. "Despite his young age, Naruto-kun is no ordinary shinobi— he has the good instincts of a veteran."

This man was seriously basing his actions on mere intuition? The basis of Jūjika no Fūin Shuriken's versatility was neither a product of the lack of handseals nor the speed of, typically slow, nature manipulation that the seal provided; it was simply because the seal was so small and once thrown, unless you had a suitable dōjutsu, there was no way one could notice it. The shuriken would then burst into an elemental conflagration without warning while initially appearing as a normal shuriken attack. It was very obviously an attack of Naruto's design, holding all the the favoured elements of speed, power, and unpredictability.

"You don't believe me, Itachi-kun?"

Itachi frowned, his hands went over a series of seals. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"

Totsuka pulled a weapon from a hidden pouch on his sleeve— a kusarigama. He spun his body clockwise and the bladed chain soared to kick the flame-coated shuriken off his tail. "And also, your side is already onlosing side for information; being a part of a prominent shinobi clan means you don't have the luxury of obscurity."

It's common knowledge that an Uchiha is generally an all-rounder shinobi, fire-natured and, last but certainly not the least, possessed the notorious dōjutsu called the Sharingan.

Then he cocked his head towards Naruto who was locked in his own battle with Benitora. "Naruto-kun is a bit tricky though; his mixed ancestry leaves us a broad range of skills he could've inherited, but he is undoubtedly a seal master… and just now, he confirmed our suspicion of his wind affinity."

"…" Considering his father's surname, the wind affinity was most likely hereditary.

"But back to your lack of information on us, it means you will try to get us off guard as soon as possible and now, you go as far as engaging us in one-on-one battles…" Because of Konoha's traditions, a team battle would be far more conventional.

"Correct," Itachi admitted. "You're a very resourceful shinobi, Totsuka-san." As expected of a shinobi, the shadow ruler kept by his side.

"Thank you for the compliment."

* * *

Naruto eyed Benitora's weapon, it was a spear and a traditional weapon of choice for Tokugawa clan. It was not Hokurakushimon though, which was a relief. Naruto had attempted to run a number of scenarios in his head on how this battle would go but he'd come up with nothing because they had a grand total of no information on Benitora's team. So they decided to engage in one-on-one to gain some intel.

Not much so far but better than nothing. First was Totsuka Tatara, obviously the most experienced among the three. He was agile, his chakra control was impressive, most likely a sensor considering he could fight blind, was the brains of the team and he had a fire affinity with a skill at manipulating the element that could make most Uchiha jealous.

As for Mahiro…

"Stay still, bastard!" Mahiro roared at Shisui who shunshined away from the barrage of shuriken the kunoichi threw at him.

Shisui was laughing. "No one is going to listen to that kind of order, even from a pretty lady!"

"Die, Uchiha!" Mahiro hissed, biting her thumb to draw blood, forming a series of handseals before slamming her open palm forward. A seal formula sprung and a portal to another dimension opened. **"Kuchiyose: Kumo Sousō!"**

Shisui stopped laughing but then, anyone would when ten spiders the size of your head were jumping at you. Shisui dodged just in time, before the summons swarmed him, with kawarimi. The spiders swarmed the training log Shisui used as a replacement, their fangs crushing the wood into splinters. There was no doubt if it bit a human, the immediate concern wouldn't be poisoning.

Clearly, she was very skilled with shuriken and she also had a summoning contract.

**"Katon: Goukakyū no jutsu!"**

It figures that Shisui would resort to the old 'Kill It With Fire' trick, Uchiha were famed for. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as he thought it would, as the ten spiders stormed through the massive fireball and straight towards him. Now, Shisui had ten flaming spiders on his heels.

"Gah! Insects should die when they're on fire!" Shisui protested as he threw kunai to pin the spiders to the ground.

Note to self: This was Hi no Kuni and the majority of the population had a fire affinity, it was justified to have fire-resistant summons.

"Hey! Spiders are not insects! They're arachnids!" Mahiro protested.

And Shisui needed a remedial lesson in biology, Naruto noted dryly.

Naruto blinked when he saw puzzled look on Hidetada's face, "What's "arachnid"? Spiders aren't insects?!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Note to self: Hidetada was undoubtedly as book-dumb as he used to be, and the prince most likely shared the same wavelength as Shisui.

Not willing to answer the dumb question, Naruto threw a spinning kick that Benitora blocked with the staff of his spear. Naruto smirked, pushing his chakra towards the tenketsu on his soles, sticking one foot upon the weapon while the other held fast to the ground.

"What the—" Benitora tried to pull his weapon away but it wouldn't budge. "Are you crazy?! You can't move while I ca—"

His hand blurred to form seals. "Futon." Like any sensible person who was about to receive elemental attack on the face, he shunshined out of the way and gave up his weapon in the process. "Daitoppa!" (Great Wind Breakthrough)

Whoosh!

* * *

Unsealing another spear from the storage seal in his pocket, Hidetada stabbed the blade on the ground to keep his footing. 'Gah! As expected of an Uzumaki… the amount of chakra he put in this attack would give any normal shinobi severe chakra exhaustion!'

The attack was mostly harmless given the distance he had put between them but the wind burn alone was enough to disorient him. At least he was not thrown into a wall, he mused before a yellow blur promptly slammed into his abdomen and he was sent crashing into the nearest wall.

"Hidetada-sama!" Mahiro cried.

"Tora-kun!"

Benitora coughed, rubbing his throbbing abdomen. "That feels like a headbutt from an elephant."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "Serves you right— you're still holding back against me." Then he added with a growl, "I am not a child, I am a shinobi."

Benitora smirked, wiping the blood on his lips. "Well, I learned my lesson… so, I will take this seriously now."

* * *

That was all warning he got before Naruto ended up cursing as his vision was filled with Benitora coming towards him from all directions. He tried to pick which shadow was the real one but only at the last moment did he sense the real spear coming towards his side. Naruto parried the spear with his kunai, but he was so focused on the spear that he failed to see the kick from his left.

"Gah!" Naruto received the kick square on his face, barely avoiding a broken nose and was thrown off to the side. He jumped away, and barely noticed blade of the spear coming from his blind spot. This time, he used his Hikō no Fūin and jumped up twenty feet into the air, and stuck to the ceiling.

Benitora squinted his eyes at the upsidedown Uzumaki, the pause in their one-on-one had their teammates deciding to do the same, allowing both teams to regroup. Benitora's team stood on the ground while Naruto's caught up with him on the ceiling. It was a silently agreed break time, with both teams gauging the other now.

"That jump just now…" Totsuka narrowed his eyes. "Not even a shinobi could leap that high… and it looks unnatural."

Benitora frowned. "Unnatural, how?"

Totsuka's eyes went towards the spot Naruto had occupied just moments ago. There was no damage even though the chakra enhancement needed to jump that high would usually dent the floor. Well, unless you were Senju Tsunade, but not even the legendary medic-nin would waste that much effort just for one jump.

Not to mention, Naruto was an Uzumaki with a massive chakra capacity thus, no matter how talented, natural chakra control on a medic-nin's caliber was impossible for him. So that left one possibility, "A seal…"

Shisui whistled, his sharingan reading what Totsuka whispered to Benitora. "Naruto… he figured out the Hikō no Fūin already. Well, part of it at least."

Naruto sighed. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he was related to the Nara Clan."

"Definitely not," Itachi supplied. "His chakra has a different tint to a Nara's."

Shisui shrugged. "Oh well, at least we have something on them now, so what should we do, Naruto?"

Naruto contemplated their findings, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. The arsenals of their opponents were impressive: a weapons mistress with a summoning contract— that was resistant to fire to boot— and, while Benitora was the most powerful fighter in the team in stamina, agility and sheer strength, the most troublesome one was Totsuka.

"It's unfortunate for them that we're not stereotypical examples of our clans, don't you think?" His lips pulled to a smirk. "So let's start with a splash, ne~ Itachi." He pulled out a small scroll, untying the rope and revealing a seal with kanji for water on the center.

The Uchiha heir smirked back, "Right."

Naruto exhaled. **"Fūsui Hōin: Kai!"**

"Suiton!" His hands blurred a series of seals. **"Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"**

* * *

If there was anything they had expected to be coming from Naruto's team, a horde of water dragons followed by a waterfall from the top of their heads was not it. Mahiro's summons shot their threads at one corner of the wall and the kunoichi escaped the flood and water dragon. Benitora and Totsuka hitched a ride each, too, because there was no way they could outrun the torrent pouring from the top of their heads. Mahiro's other summons, except the three they used, dispelled before the water got to them.

They panted lightly, eyeing the flooded training area in shock. "Where did he get all that water?" Benitora couldn't help but wonder. "Did he seriously store a river's worth of water inside a scroll?!" Mahiro added.

They didn't had time to ponder the mystery as another dragon resurfaced from the water surface, and this time, while Mahiro escaped to the ceiling, her summon was not as lucky as the dragon snatched the summon in its jaw.

"Water won't kill my summon!"

Shisui grinned. "But this will! **Raiton: Thunderbolt!"**

The spiders that had floated on the water puffed into smoke, returning to their realm. It was not hard for Totsuka to figure out what they had done. The water was to ambush Mahiro's summons while giving Shisui a natural lightning conductor at the same time. Not to mention, with the death trap below, their movements were severely restricted.

This move also eliminated his and Mahiro's katon jutsu. Neither of them had a large chakra capacity so they couldn't win in an elemental battle, not with all the water below. Still… Totsuka glanced to the left and grinned. "Tora-kun." Hidetada was his master but calling the prince by the nickname made him more agreeable. "Make a hole on that wall."

"Got it!" Benitora ran on the ceiling towards the mentioned wall.

Naruto frowned, "What is he—"

"Heeeya!" Benitora roared as he rammed his spear into the concrete, creating a large hole, allowing the water to flow out.

The jinchuuriki scowled. "So that wall leads outside." And most likely to nearest waterway, too.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the older shinobi; they almost forgotten they had one more disadvantage; the opposing team held the advantage of home ground as a guardian, Totsuka knew the layout of this palace better than anyone else.

"Let's just try the good old trick," Shisui suggested, forming a tora seal. Naruto groaned in response. "Oh, come on!"

Naruto cracked one eye open at Itachi who also did the same. "Uchiha." He snorted, "Hai~ hai~" He clasped his hands together. " **Futon**."

**"Katon!"**

Then, in unison, they exclaimed, **"Nenshō-ha no Jutsu (Blazing Wave)!"**

A torrent of flame shot towards them like a tsunami and Mahiro cursed. 'These kids! Are they trying to kill us?!'

Mahiro slammed her hands to the ground, "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" The ground beneath them turned into fine sand and the trio escaped the wave of flames.

Shisui and Itachi exhaled the last of their fire, surveying the damage. Itachi blinked when he noticed a wire, no… a thread thinner than shinobi wire with chakra running through it coming from underground and connected to… "Shisui! Your hand!"

The shushin expert looked at his hand, his eyes widening at the almost invisible thread coiled around his wrist. "What the—" He was cut off when the thread tugged at his wrist and, as he pulled back, the thread dug into his flesh, drawing blood. "Damn it!" Shisui tried to cut the thread with a kunai but it wouldn't budge.

Mahiro resurfaced, followed by her teammates. "You first, Uchiha!"

"Shisui, stay still!" Naruto channeled his wind chakra through his own kunai, but the thread remained resistant to imperfect wind blade. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he concentrated, the wind blade thinned and sharpened. It was just one second but the thread, at last, broke.

He had no time to relax as hundreds of summoned spiders were thrown at them. Itachi and Shisui grabbed his arms and they jumped back to dodge the assault. To their sharingan, it was like river of spider thread, flowing from Mahiro's body to her summons.

"If we get caught by that, we're doomed!" Shisui hissed as they landed on the ground.

"They're still summon animals, not to mention they're small… it should be easy to force them to dispel." Itachi pointed out.

"In that case." His fingers clasped together, ox-dragon-horse-dog-bird! "Futon: Shōgekiha no Jutsu!"

The shockwave of the wind elemental attack stormed through the hoard of spiders, dispelling their summoning. While a spider could ride wind, air pressure was another matter entirely.

Naruto perked up, "He is coming… " He crossed his hands, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Chakra smoke burst to existence and as it dissipated ten replica of Naruto appeared.

"Roger." Itachi and Shisui darted to opposite direction, away from Naruto.

He raised his blade, and steel met steel. Benitora pushed the blade of his spear forward but Naruto didn't budge. "You're really not holding back, if not for your agreement with my tanuki father I would've thought…"

You're really trying to kill me…

"Hn," His lips tugged upward slightly "Please don't underestimate us, if we wanted you dead, you'd already be so however…" He trailed off. "We despise violence and bloodshed, which is why we go this far…"

'Something is off,' Benitora suspected, he could feel it in his gut. 'Wait… just now he—"

A few seconds later, an explosion startled Totsuka and Mahiro from their stalemate with the Uchiha cousins and another dozen of Naruto's clones. "Tora-kun!" Totsuka cried.

Benitora burst from the cloud of smoke, a little singed but mostly fine. "I'm fine! Naruto, on the other hand, not so much."

"Ugh…" As the smoke dissipated, they could see where the jinchuuriki's prone form was.

"Naruto!" Their shocked voice was dampened by the burst of chakra smoke around them, as Naruto's kagebushin were dispelled after the user was knocked out cold.

Mahiro smirked, "It's our win then! Do—"

"Mahiro, wa—" Totsuka began but he never managed to finish as the world suddenly twisted beneath him and Benitora, who was standing beside him, smirked. There was another burst of chakra, bright and warm like the sun to his senses. It wrapped itself around his torso at an unbelievable speed before he could react and slithered down his body to immobilize his limbs.

Mahiro yelped in shock as their vision twisted into a surreal world of black and red. The two Uchiha before them exploded into a flock of crows.

"Kai!" Totsuka quickly returned himself and his team to reality as he utilised his masterful chakra control to dispel the genjutsu without the assistance of a handseal.

However, both he and Mahiro were still bound in golden chains made of shining chakra, and the Uchiha cousins were each holding a kunai against their neck with sharingan blazing.

"This is it," the young voice of Uzumaki Naruto announced to them from behind, confirming Totsuka's suspicion that the chakra chain was his. "Yield, Totsuka-san, Mahiro-san… please."

He swallowed, "Tora-kun?"

It was Itachi who answered him. "Over there, he is fine… mostly."

Totsuka's eyes turned to where he had thought Naruto was knocked out cold. The genjutsu was dispelled now, though, revealing the squirming Benitora who had the same chakra chains tying his whole body to the ground. The chain wrapped around their prince and went down into small hole on the concrete floor. Totsuka could guess where the chain was connected to.

Mahiro's eyes were closed, biting her lower lip in frustrated gesture. Totsuka could tell the kunoichi was frustrated and ashamed beyond words. "Alright… we yield. It's your win, Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun."

They deserved this.

* * *

**Ten minutes later…**

Benitora's team marveled at the fact that, after such an intense fight they had lost, they had ended up only suffering minor injuries which mostly consisted of bruises and shallow cuts.

"I know this will sound dumb," The prince gritted out. "But I still didn't get how we lost." At Naruto's raised eyebrow, he elaborated. "I mean… alright, we lost the fight, but I still don't get how that happened!"

Ieyasu who had been watching the fight with amused look interjected. "Yes, do enlighten my idiotic son."

Benitora opened his mouth to retort, but Mahiro beat him to it. "You win! But I can't accept you coming at our prince with intent to kill!"

Shisui rolled his eyes, "No one wants to kill anybody, we just made you think so-"

"Heh?"

Totsuka, who was sitting on the ground as cleaning the soot on his arm, sighed loudly. "Tora-kun… we have been hoodwinked since the very beginning." He clarified, then waved his hand towards their surroundings. "Tell me, does this place look like it just suffered from a massive fire-wind enhanced jutsu?"

There were a number of scorched spots, but nothing that indicated they had a fire-jutsu festival. The most glaring evidence was… the wall his team had occupied only had six feet wide blackened surface. The fire Naruto's team had used was at least five times of that so…

"So all those massive fireballs…"

"Most of them were fakes." Shisui began to explain, "There was a fireball attack we threw at you." He glanced at the scorched wall. "But even the combined size was not that big— we wrapped it in genjutsu so it appeared bigger."

Totsuka's eyes narrowed. "Shrouding a real attack in genjutsu… that's like doing two things in the same time."

"Which is why…" Itachi trailed off before continuing. "While I supplied the real Goukakyū, Shisui was the one who worked on the illusion while Naruto used a Futon so a fireball of that size could reach all the way to another side of the room." A smaller fireball meant a shorter reach so it needed boost of wind.

Totsuka shook his head mirthfully. "You guys are really a good team."

"Still!" Mahiro had calmed a great deal after explained that Benitora was never in danger of assassination. "I can't believe you fooled Totsuka that easily!"

"Oh, it's very hard even for genjutsu masters like Itachi and me." Shisui admitted with sagely nod. "But, since we're Uchiha, you expected genjutsu through eye contact so you didn't notice genjutsu through skin contact."

Totsuka recalled the time he blocked Shisui's punch; it stung because of Raiton but he didn't realize it was also genjutsu. "Which is why, I didn't notice Itachi-kun switching place with Naruto-kun to fight Tora-kun." The genjutsu had messed up with his senses.

"Actually I realized that Naruto was Itachi at the last moment." Benitora felt the need to defend his intelligence. "He grunted like an Uchiha still."

Itachi blinked and Naruto groaned, "That of all things?"

"Still didn't save me from that sneak attack." The smoke bomb went off and then the chakra chain grabbed his leg.

"Oh, don't think I forgot!" Mahiro apparently was not finished, "You dumped a river worth of water on us!" She pointed accusingly at Naruto. "Who keeps a river inside his storage scroll?!"

"We passed by a flooded village on our way back from a mission, so…" Naruto trailed off. "Unless Itachi is going to turn into the Nidaime's second coming soon, it's handy to keep water source around." He explained his logic on why he had a river on storage scroll. "Besides, while throwing so much destruction around Uzumaki style, no one would look hard for genjutsu."

Totsuka had to admit, after that flood over his head, he let his guard down on genjutsu and watched out for another disaster-esque jutsu the team would throw at them instead. That was masterful deception at its finest, concocted by a group of young shinobi no less.

"Your teamwork is flawless," Totsuka couldn't help but comment.

"No, they're full of flaws," Ieyasu corrected, startling all shinobi around him. He had been pretty quiet as both teams were reviewing their performance. "Your strategy in this fight came with high risks… especially the last move. If Uchiha Itachi failed to keep Hidetada occupied until the right time, if Totsuka noticed Naruto's chakra in spite of all distraction Uchiha Shisui provided…" He listed on. "What would you do if you failed?"

Naruto just smiled at that. "We didn't fail in the end… and while I agree our plan was risky and more likely to fail in your opinion," He tilted his head to the side, "I trust Itachi and Shisui with my life; don't you think trusting them to make my crazy plan work is nothing in comparison?"

He said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world, typical of Naruto. Itachi and Shisui couldn't stop themselves from laughing, though in Itachi's case it was nothing more than a string of chuckles. Shisui outright guffawed until his sides hurt.

"What?! It's a simple logic!" Naruto said, pouting at his teammates and best friends.

"No no…" Shisui coughed, "Only you would answer like that when someone is questioning your sanity." He coughed again, poorly hiding his laughing fit. "It's so you, though."

"What's that su— wha—" Naruto yelped when a calloused hand landed on top of his head. He was still recovering from his use of chakra chains— which he shouldn't use so much— and Kurama was still screaming inside his mind about healing his chakra coils again. So he was in no condition to dodge.

Ieyasu ruffled Naruto's blond locks. "Really… I have asked so many shinobi the same question when I pointed flaws in their teamwork, strategy, and tactics… but—" He exhaled softly. "Only you and your grandfather answered it, not with alogical answer or excuse…"

But with the simple fact that they had absolute trust in their comrades; no other reason was needed.

Then suddenly, Ieyasu turned his attention to his teammates, giving them a look that alarmed Naruto. It was not fear and suspicion like what he saw from villagers of Konoha, but… it was sympathy.

Ieyasu then knelt beside him so he was on the same eye level as Naruto who was sitting on the floor. "Naruto-kun." His hand was still on the top of Naruto's head.

Then Naruto heard it, a whisper that rang through his mind. It was not Kurama's voice, but Ieyasu's.

**'We need to talk Naruto-kun. About you,**

**your family, the Namikaze…**

**and the Uchiha Clan.'**

Those words heralded the second time his world shattered since the day he learned about his jinchuuriki status and its associated, classified information. Apparently he had not discovered enough dark secrets, the legacy of his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors note :On new character, jutsu and everything else... skip and forever clueless if you feel like it. However that means I WILL NOT answer question on review that already answered here.  
> TECHNIQUE and TOOLS and PLACES  
> Kumo Sousou: a variant of Sabaku sousou but with spider summon, in short you get swarmed by spiders (worse kind of attack I ever put in this fanfic in my opinion)
> 
> Genjutsu+Ninjutsu: a combo of technique inspired by KHR, 'reality' within 'illusion' by Rokudo Mukuro.
> 
> Hokurakushimon: The last Shiseiten under Tokugawa clan's control, and the only one that not a sword.
> 
> Juujika Shuriken: As explained in story, some people would wonder what's the point of flaming shuriken when Uchiha have Housenka no Jutsu. You get your answer here… it's more subtle and faster.
> 
> Tokijikuin: Timeless Palace in literal translation, name taken from K project simply because it's HARD to come up with japanese name when I don't know Japanese... it's Ieyasu's personal quarter, "HOUOU" or phoenix is the name of the whole palace. So the theme for places in capital is phoenix... immortality. The capital itself... maybe will be mentioned later.
> 
> PEOPLE and group  
> Uzumaki Masako/Miyanaga Tsubone: Basically Saigou no Tsubone, the first consort of historical Tokugawa Ieyasu. Said to be the only 'one' he really loves. Said to be sengoku jidai's Cinderella.
> 
> Totsuka Tatara: Taken from K project, skilled Katon user, sensor, and user of Kusarigama. He is also closest aide of Ieyasu who also have Hidetada/Benitora's trust. He is arguably the weakest but the most skilled at flame manipulation.
> 
> Mahiro: From Samurai Deeper Kyo, a kunoichi under Ieyasu. Very devoted and idolized her masters. She is summoner of spider and skilled weapon mistress.
> 
> HOMRA (based on K's red can) : Shadow Twelve Guardians of Hi no Kuni, unlike twelve guardians bearing cloth with 火 they're tattooed with the more elaborate looking ANBU tattoo. ALL of them descend from original Twelve Guardians with no affiliation to anyone but Tokugawa family. The 'true' shinobi group in service of Tokugawa clan. All of them are katon user.
> 
> Let's clarify 'Pairing' in this story, why? It's nonexistent in this fic but this 'serious business' seems like it will set something on fire if I didn't sort it out now.
> 
> As you can see, for the first time the topic 'pairing' pop up in relation to Naruto and... as swiftly shoved aside as if it didn't matter at all. In this fic it matters, just not a lot and... not in romantic light.  
> While non-canon Naruto character will fill up the spot as princess of Hi no Kuni. I decide to import character from somewhere like I did Shiomitsu clan. She will appear one day but well... the 'fiancee' will exist as mere political asset mostly. Naruto being Naruto of course will go out his way to act nice, romantic? ha ha... not sappy type of romantic and as mentioned in this chapter. He is engaged with someone four years older, and mental age aside... I find it unrealistic outside of shoujo manga to have serious romance between preteens.
> 
> In this fic even Minato & Kushina's relationship have politic background. And before anyone ask, it doesn't mean the universe of this fic renounce pure love LOL  
> 'Shisui' aside, both Naruto and Itachi are both totally married to their job to notice girls in romantic sense.


	16. Crossroad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN : Beta-ed but will be double-checked again ASAP but according to my beta MelodyXchii "IT'S BEAUTIFUL NOW!"  
> Oh well, we're doing our best and I agree the best we present here is beautiful... ha ha ha.

**Intermission  
 _What Danzo thinks of Kyuubi no Jinchuriki AKA Uzumaki Naruto_ in summary.  
** _A child full of untapped potential_   
_A sane jinchuuriki, bless Konoha_   
_His chosen companions is questionable_   
_Too bright for a shinobi_ ****  


**Conclusion: He hated Uzumaki Naruto, plain and simple.**

Danzo had never met the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki in person but the irrational parts of his mind believed he would hate the legacy of the Yondaime as much as he coveted the potential the child held. He hadn't hated the jinchuuriki initially; his dislike for the child stemmed from all the wasted potential as a product of Hiruzen wanting to give the Uzumaki a childhood.

This, in his opinion, was Hiruzen's worst decision ever. The idea of giving a jinchuuriki a childhood was already ridiculous in the first place, but Hiruzen just had to go and do a shitty job at it too.

First, the Sandaime Hokage placed the jinchuuriki in the care of overworked orphanage staff that hated the boy at first sight. In their defence, no one would actually like to get a baby-shaped bomb on top of the already massive influx of orphans after the Kyuubi Attack. He wasn't surprised they kicked the boy out at the young age of four with the excuse that the boy could take care of himself now— and had Hiruzen scrambling to get the boy another place to stay.

Surprisingly, the boy somehow managed to be self-sufficient, enough for a four years old boy, to be left alone in his own apartment for most of the time with a minimum of issues. It seemed that the minimum level of care he had received in orphanage had taught the boy some level of independence— aside from forgetting to take baths, eating his greens and other menial mishaps… That meant Hiruzen could get away with leaving just a monthly allowance for the jinchuuriki and a squad of ANBU to keep the boy out of trouble.

He had hoped that Hiruzen had finally started to see sense and consider giving up on the Uzumaki's 'childhood' after failing so miserably at it. Indeed, if there were anyone in the world he had to applaud, it would be the jinchuuriki whose sheer stubbornness prevented him from succumbing to depression in the face of a whole village's hatred. The pranks he did in retaliation, while annoying, were a harmless way to vent and an ingenious application of trap making and stealth.

Considering how jinchuuriki in other villages vented their anger, the Uzumaki was harmless.

Hiruzen continued insisting that he keep his hands off of the jinchuuriki _or else_ — and not even Danzo would dare to risk the Hokage's wrath over an untrained jinchuuriki. Then one day, due to ANBU's carelessness, the boy disappeared for a few hours and, one dead nobody from Iwa later, the jinchuuriki started to change for no apparent reason.

He became— focused. As if suddenly, there was one goal he pursued with the thirst of a fish in a desert. At the same time, the child became apathetic to the people around him. He seemed to lose his desire for their acknowledgment and instead, looked at them with a mix of emotions his agent couldn't comprehend. They best described it as… pity and resignation.

It was not alarming though, because it wasn't difficult to imagine a child giving up on something they had previously held precious. Then all of a sudden, the boy was given the opportunity to graduate early at the age of seven and apprentice to sealing division. The boy was an Uzumaki so that recommendation was expected but he had hoped Hiruzen wouldn't be foolish enough to send the boy to the Tower where the vassal families of Uzumaki resided. The last thing they needed was a pampered jinchuuriki.

And then, as if Shiomitsu Clan's involvement in the attempt on the jinchuuriki's life was not unsettling enough, the boy managed to befriend both Uchiha Itachi and Shisui. While he never managed to wrap his mind around that one, the two Uchiha became inseparable from the jinchuuriki, regardless. They followed after him like hounds after their master— in that incredibly dignified and respectable manner that characterised the Uchiha, of course. If anything, he was more worried that the two Uchiha would blow up in their face if the village didn't start to treat the jinchuuriki better. Ironically, said jinchuuriki avoided showing up in public with his friends— who he was trying to save was still up for debate.

However, in the end, what puzzled him the most was not the boy's relationship with the Uchiha cousins but the drastic change of personality over the course of the last two years. The boy was as cheerful as ever— unbefitting of a shinobi— but there was something different to him. It was as if the boy had become an old soul like Itachi was— but not quite the same way, either.

Then his agent overheard one line from Uchiha Itachi that cemented his hatred for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki:

_'Naruto's worse fear is…_

_Everything that had been taken from him as a sacrifice; his parents, childhood, friends…_

_If all that were for nothing.'_

It was a shocking revelation even for him; that someone like Uzumaki Naruto, who was born and raised in Konoha, never _truly_ loved Konoha. Suddenly, it made so much sense…

Apparently, the boy had somehow found out about his identity and status, which had led to the growing distance and distrust of Hiruzen. It didn't worry him much; after all, the boy had kept it to himself so at least the boy knew the importance of secrecy.

What angered Danzo was the fact that the boy had never held _genuine_ love for Konoha as his village, and his loyalty to Konoha was second-hand. The Uzumaki was loyal to Konoha simply because his Uchiha friends were loyal, and his parents had died for her. He was loyal to the Uchiha, the Tower, his parents' memory, but not Konoha, herself.

What an abhorrent example of heresy from someone who dared to wear Konoha's symbol upon their person, swearing unbreakable oath as her shinobi. Not to mention, as their jinchuuriki; the greatest, if not most destructive, weapon at their disposal.

And, as if his second-rate loyalty was not bad enough, Danzo saw an alarming shift of loyalty in Uchiha Itachi and Shisui. They were still loyal to Konoha but Danzo feared their loyalty to the jinchuuriki was going to outweigh it.

That child would either be Konoha's greatest asset or their downfall, and that was why Danzo hated Uzumaki Naruto. He despised uncontrollable factors and, more than anything, he loathed shinobi who placed the memory of dead parents and friends above his village.

* * *

**16th Legacy: Crossroads**

_"Maa… you guys are still kids in the end, afraid to upset your elders._   
_However… deep down you also know if you don't change them, one day you would be out of choice."_   
**Tokugawa Ieyasu**

It was Ieyasu's private office, a moderately sized room, unbefitting of someone of his rank. Then again, Ieyasu was the type that valued practicality above all else, Naruto noted as Ieyasu carefully placed his hand on the wall next to his desk. A design flashed, and Naruto recognized it as a very complex security seal with a positively ancient, identifying chakra scanner. It was initially a small seal the size of an adult hand that, as it was unsealed, expanded to the point that it filled the wall. Ieyasu was unsealing the seal before he withdrew his hand, and the seal shrunk back to the original size before disappeared.

"On second thought, perhaps you're not ready," Ieyasu mused aloud with a long-suffering sigh before taking a seat in front of him.

Once they were all patched up, Ieyasu requested a private meeting between Naruto and himself. Not even his bodyguards were with him. Naruto was partially nervous and partially excited by what Ieyasu wanted to talk about only to be disappointed the the one line Ieyasu chose to begin and end the conversation with.

An image of Ieyasu dangling a priceless scroll in front of his nose with a fishing pole appeared in his mind and Naruto couldn't stop himself from yelling, "Don't get me worked up for nothing Ieyasu-sama! I-"

"Call me Ji-sama," he said in sage tone. "After all, your grandfather was like a father to me."

Now he was screwing with Naruto's head and on top of that, bringing the family issue to the table. "Don't change the topic, Oji-sama." Naruto let the title roll off of his tongue— largely because he suspected if he didn't relent, Ieyasu would insist and they would get nowhere. "You said—" Naruto covered his own mouth in shock at what he had just said himself.

Ieyasu said? No… he didn't say anything! He—

"That chakra chain of yours… the Uzumaki's signature Kongō Fūsa, right?" Naruto nodded numbly. "May I see it?"

Naruto exhaled softly, pushing his confusion to the back of his mind. Kongō Fūsa was… fuinjutsu that could only be used by the Uzumaki Clan with their unique chakra, making the technique a borderline bloodline limit. The reason no one but Uzumaki could do this was due to their impressive chakra density and its purity of yang nature. The reason the technique was often mistaken by outsiders as their bloodline limit was simply because, unlike other secret clan techniques, it was passed down through a blood seal that was automatically coded to all Uzumaki clansmen from birth. In fact, it was believed their affinity for sealing was also passed down in the same manner.

Naruto could feel it in his being, the seal instructing him on how to mould the chain. Imagining the chakra flowing from his abdomen to his desired body parts— at first, it was easiest to let the chakra sprout from his back, closest to his chakra core. However, now it was more convenient to direct it to his palm, the body part with the most frequently-used tenketsu. Then, as the chakra flowed to his palm, he imagined the sensation of grasping something solid followed by the image of chains rattling and intertwining in his mind.

CLINK!

Then, in his hand, a golden chain made of chakra glowed softly, the comma-like tip swaying like a pendulum.

"It seems… because your father is a Namikaze, the purity of your Uzumaki chakra is as high as pure-blooded Uzumaki." Then, much to Naruto's confusion, his eyes narrowed at the comma-shaped blade on the end of the chain. "That shape… I see, just like Mayumi and Minato, you don't have _that_ but still…"

Naruto stopped himself from asking 'what's that' and stayed very still under Ieyasu's ministration.

"Have you ever been in great mental distress involving someone close to you?" Ieyasu asked suddenly.

That was an unexpected query, coming from someone like him. "Too often to my liking," Naruto admitted in sombre tone. "I am a shinobi and a jinchuuriki, after all, and my closest friends are Uchiha." He added with a sigh.

In short, his friendship with Itachi and Shisui was like a recipe for disaster. Not that he would give it up for anything in the world.

"And… you never felt some sort of burn in your eyes in that situation?"

"Burn?" Naruto echoed.

"Chakra influx you can't control around said area," Ieyasu elaborated.

"Not that I know of…" Naruto tried to recall harder. "No, I don't think so…"

Ieyasu hm-ed, cupping his chin in thoughtful pose. "So… Kagebunshin." Naruto perked up. "Am I correct to assume you are using this jutsu constantly?"

He nodded hesitantly. "Yes? It's my favourite jutsu…" More like most abused technique ever.

"How often you used it?"

"Eh…" Naruto averted his eyes, as if he were a child caught stealing cookies. His fumbling answered better than he could have with words.

He frowned at the jinchuuriki. "Tatara told me that your proficiency with this technique is _abnormal_ even by Uzumaki standards." Naruto winced inwardly. "Your control is so fine you can coordinate with over ten clones in a taijutsu battle, as if they're extensions of your limbs." He sighed. "How many clones can you make and control effectively?"

Now he was confused; why was Ieyasu so interested in his Kagebunshin? "For daily use such as studying… designing seals…" He trailed off. "I use around ten at a time and, in that number, I can get them to do complicated tasks to the best of my own ability. At around twenty, I can do the same but it's extremely taxing on my mind and body. If it's just for simple tasks such as fighting on my command, I have no problem making as many as I need until my reserves run out."

"How bad is the mental exhaustion to you?"

"Eh… at first it was a really bad headache when their memories flow to my head but now, I barely feel anything. Twenty will give me a bad migraine still… When it comes to battle, they often don't last long so I don't really notice a thing." In fact, if not for the constant use of Kagebunshin for his study, he wouldn't notice memory transfer quirk of this technique.

Ieyasu became very quiet and it unnerved Naruto. At last he spoke again. "You do know that normal shinobi would have severe, self-inflicted brain damage if they did what you do, don't you?"

Naruto blinked owlishly, tapping his temple. "I guess it's thanks to my tenant? Our combined healing ability perhaps prevents the worse of it? I also use seals to delay the immediate memory transfer..." But his abuse was still pretty dangerous even with the seal, most people would have suffered from a stroke or other kind of brain damage.

 **"I don't remember ever fixing your brain, though that explains a lot of things…"** Kurama grumbled in his mind, Naruto could imagine Kurama rubbing his muzzle when he was talking. **_"Wait a minute… yep, aside from idiocy I think the lump of flesh called brain in your head is pretty healthy."_** He snickered. **_"The self-preservation function is not really functioning though! And no amount of healing chakra can heal it but I am sure an Uzumaki can live with it!"_**

 _'I am so touched you care, Kurama.'_ Naruto returned in deadpan tone. "I am pretty sure my brain is not damaged." Kurama didn't think so at least.

"I can see that," Ieyasu snorted. "You're as healthy as any Uzumaki, as expected of a descendant from the clan of longevity and vitality."

Naruto swallowed and asked a nagging question he couldn't endure any longer. "Is that why you took Benitora's mother as your consort?"

Much to his surprise Ieyasu didn't look offended and answered. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in that, it's a trait desired by anyone in power… I desire strong children. Especially since I used to be a sickly child…"

He… he was not lying— that was a surprise.

"However… Tsubone, I mean Masako, was not just a woman with desirable clan traits. She was also a great woman, gentle and virtuous…"

So there was a genuine affection involved with his marriage to the woman of his clan. "So… you loved her." The sadness that passed over his dark eyes for a moment was enough for Naruto to tell. "Benitora." Who claimed the name as his Uzumaki name. "He seems to think otherwise."

He grunted. "I don't have to explain myself to immature brat I called my son."

"Just so you know, ji-sama, Benitora would be easier to manage," As in, keeping the boy out of trouble. "If he gets to know you better instead of you waiting for him to understand."

He snorted. "Enough about my family, this is about you, Naruto." The jinchuuriki tensed. "So. Have you hearing voices in your head."

"I am not crazy either," Naruto huffed, Kurama didn't count though… but just now— "But… I heard your voice in my mind." Naruto ran his fingers through his blond mane. "Is that some sort of telepathy ninjutsu of the Yamanaka?"

Ieyasu looked amused. "Of course not, the Yamanaka wouldn't part with their prized jutsu even under orders from their king." He exhaled softly. "Ah, well… so _Kongō Fūsa,_ the brain, and most likely Satori, too?"

"Satori?" Naruto echoed, confused.

"When Tatara first spoke to you, your eyes searched through his body language— not an unusual habit for a shinobi— but you seemed to sense something normal shinobi couldn't."

Naruto blinked, now he was even more confused. "I did but… it's just ill intent, the perk of being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

He frowned. "Ill intention? Not killing intent?"

He shrugged. "Intent is very broad… any shinobi worth their salt could feel killing intent, even civilians can, too… In my case, I can tell if someone has ill intentions, negative ones like… sadness, anger, fear… but not hearing voices on my head." He stressed the last part.

"Not yet."

Naruto frowned. "I hope that's not your way of telling me that I am on my way to insanity."

Ieyasu smirked. "It's not… however, if you start hearing voices, stay calm and rest assured that you're not crazy." The blond blinked owlishly. "Then go to Hakurei to inform him of the happy occasion, and congratulate yourself for awakening your Namikaze kekkei genkai." He said in a false cheer that didn't suit him at all.

"…Kekkei Genkai?!" Naruto sputtered after he processed his father's surname in conjunction. "The Namikaze clan has… a bloodline limit? That's… impossible." He tried to argue calmly but failed miserably. "I mean, if the Yondaime Hokage had a bloodline limit—"

Everyone in Konoha would have known.

"I am sure your father didn't have it," he said as if he had checked it himself— and most likely did. "Perhaps the Kekkei Genkai always skips one generation or there is a special condition to trigger the awakening… but you're undoubtedly showing signs of early stage Satori."

Naruto sputtered. "Wait a minute! If hearing voices is called Satori, is it some sort of fancy term for crazy? I don't know much about my grandfather but I am sure I have heard his name in line with variations of…" Naruto stopped before hesitantly and shamefully added. "Weird."

Of course, people of the Tower talking about Muramasa was rare, and most of the time Naruto overheard Muramasa being described as kind and eccentric.

Ieyasu rolled his eyes, "This is why I checked whether you had it so when _inevitably_ you awaken it completely, you're not going straight to a Yamanaka or psychiatrist."

That was not assuring. "But—"

"Enough about you, let's talk business now." He interjected, walking towards his desk and pulling a blank scroll from his drawer.

 _'He brought it up, confused the hell out of me, and now he wants to talk business?!'_ Naruto clamped his mouth shut though, because as curious as he was with this Satori thing, his priority was an alliance with the Tokugawa clan, the royal family of Hi no Kuni. He couldn't mess this up. For the Tower, the Uchiha clan, and Konoha. He would do anything for—

His thoughts were interrupted when Ieyasu almost shoved an ink stone, a scroll and a brush on a tray in his face. He blinked owlishly at the stationary set, wondering why Ieyasu handed it over to him. Unrolling the scroll, as expected, the paper was still blank. "Eeh… there is nothing written yet."

"Yes, because _you_ have not written anything," he said in tone that suggested Naruto was an idiot.

Naruto sputtered something about rules and laws about making someone else to do his paperwork. The following argument was the fiercest he had ever experienced and Naruto lost count of how many times he contemplated throwing Ieyasu's— very heavy and expensive— kaya-wood desk at him for the whole day. The tyrant was so smug— it was sickening!

* * *

On the second day for some reason he had procured a standard handbook for the Konoha Military Police Force from somewhere. Itachi and Shisui were torn between indignation and shock, someone— shadow ruler of the country or not— had gotten their hands on said handbook which was not for the viewing pleasure of the general public.

"So, now that we have settled the general matters—"

 _'So my engagement to his daughter is a general matter?'_ Naruto began to feel rather sorry for his fiancée and Benitora, and on that same note, he was sure he had not yet met the girl because Ieyasu wanted to mess with his mind. After all, Ieyasu was the one who decided on the political marriage, and he still got the standard talk of father-to-his-daughter's-future-spouse including the obligatory death threat.

"—, let us move on KMPF and Sealing Division. We can talk about your clans tomorrow, alright?"

Wait a minute—?! Since when was the KMPF included in this and why?! Judging from the twitches on their faces, Itachi and Shisui were on the same page with him.

"So first, what's with this recruitment regulation of yours, Uchiha? It's dumb and selling the image of nepotism instead of elite group," Ieyasu droned on as if there was nothing wrong calling a prominent clan dumb in front of their heir. "Well, Itachi-kun?"

Itachi didn't answer right away, people who didn't know him well would think the Uchiha heir felt offended but Naruto and Shisui knew better. Itachi had no idea how to respond to such a blunt critic to his clan's policy, and admitting Ieyasu was right was self-defeating.

Ieyasu nodded sagely; Itachi's non-answer was somehow taken as an answer. "That's what I thought… So let's change it."

Naruto, who had dragged them all into this, felt obligated to interrupt. "Stop! Ji-sama, we have no authority to approve any changes in the regulations of the KMPF."

"Which is why it's your job to get them to agree with the change," he said pointedly, looking nonplussed.

"Eh?!"

Ieyasu pointed at Itachi. "You're the heir of Uchiha clan." Then his finger moved to point at Shisui next, "You're the son of Nidaime's most trusted Uchiha, Kagami." Then, at last, his finger pointed at Naruto. "You're the heir of the Uzumaki clan, and the leader of Sealing Division… your group is their partner on duty as Konoha's inner defence."

"..."

"..."

"...How is that going to justify changing regulations that are supposed to be none of our business?" Naruto wondered out loud. Itachi and Shisui weren't even enlisted in the KMPF for Shodai's sake!

"It should be your business if you want to create meaningful chance." They tensed. "And you three aren't morons, even if I didn't point this out, _you_ know but you hesitate…"

"We…"

"Afraid to upset your family, I suppose?"

That sounded like a pathetic excuse, but Naruto knew that it summarised the dozens of reasons they could think of on the top of their head.

Ieyasu shook his head mirthfully, "Maa… you guys are still kids in the end, afraid to upset your elders. However, deep down, you also know that if you don't change them, one day you will be out of choices and then…"

Then… Naruto felt dread of premonition of things to come if they let everything be, he didn't even want to think what they had to do if they were out of choice… in his mind a memory flashed. Of his father's calloused hand deftly holding a brush, endlessly writing seals on his tri-pronged kunai. Then followed by memory of passing said kunai to their comrades and then…

_In a flash—_

_Blood—_

_Mountain of dead bodies—_

_The smell of death—_

_All to end the war._

"One year."

Naruto's attention snapped back to reality at Ieyasu's voice. "One…" He echoed hesitantly. "Year?"

"Considering current situation you face, that's your deadline," the shadow ruler of Hi no Kuni declared. "If you change nothing, if you failed… you three will be forced to choose between your village and your clan."

Choosing between their family and the village was one thing they didn't even want to dream would ever happen to them but deep down, they knew it would come to that soon.

"That is one cruel dilemma I don't even want to wish upon my worst enemy." His tone was light-hearted, almost mocking, but there was no mirth. "Despite that, you three have to know one thing: no matter what cost, Konoha shall not fall, even if…"

Even if you had to sacrifice everything else…

"Are you guys are still up to this?" He asked, expecting nothing but one answer.

Three pairs of determined eyes looked up at him. "Yes… We shall not fail." That was a promise and they weren't going to back down from it.

* * *

**On the way to Konoha (From Na no Kuni)**

If Naruto had thought the prince of Hi No Kuni was exaggerating about Ieyasu's penchant for pulling people's legs _before_ , those doubts were now gone and he was a firm believer that the tanuki should get a dose of ironic karma. He didn't hate Ieyasu, and nope… it was not love-hate familial relationship either. Much to Benitora's horror, Naruto openly admit he was getting fond of Ieyasu. He was like… that crazy uncle everyone loved once they see that he was all soft underneath of that stony and cold exterior.

That admission earned him raised eyebrows from Ieyasu, amusement from Totsuka and Mahiro was murderous.

Naruto was used to calling the Hokage " _old man_ " to his face, so what if he called Ieyasu— who was an uncle by marriage— as such? As it was, by silent agreement, both Naruto and Ieyasu were determined to milk this new alliance for all its worth. But before that…

"We're going to be _so_ dead," Shisui announced the obvious, the walk from Na no Kuni, after escorting Wakaba-dono back, to Konoha was full of this kind of conversation much to their exasperation. "Both of us, Ita-chan… the clan elders are going to kill us!" He shouted at Naruto and Itachi who were tree-hopping beside him, as if they couldn't hear him at his normal volume.

Sai and Shin were a few feet behind them and opted to stay really quiet— or in Shin's case, stuffing his mouth with fresh fruit he'd filched from the greenhouses they had left behind.

Itachi and Naruto gave him an identical sideways look. "What makes you think that Hakurei is just going to bow down to every demand I make?"

"He won't?"

"Ha ha ha." Naruto let out mirthless laugh. "Hell, no! I _am_ his master but he _is_ still the official leader of Sealing Tower, he has all the rights to call me out on my stupidity." He eyed the two scrolls strapped on his waist. "Apparently, Ieyasu-sama never got the memo that we're running a _clan_ not a monarchy!"

"What am I going to say to my father?" Itachi wondered out loud, in a rare moment of total confusion and helplessness. "I mean— all proposed, this contract could solve our problem—" He coughed, cutting off his sentence. "It's hard to proceed with it in our clan."

"Ya know… at the time like this, I always think it would be much simpler if we can just kill Danzo and Uchiha elders." Shisui cackled to himself. "Well, I don't want to kill anyone if I can help it… maybe Danzo..."

Naruto and Itachi waved their hands in negative. "Don't even go there." They told him in unison.

While Danzo was someone who gave them trouble all the time— and if the problem was not directly from him, Naruto was sure he could somehow find some way to lead it back to Danzo and Madara, regardless. All of them were pacifists, not because they were naive but because they knew… the moment they resorted to getting rid of their opposition as their first choice, it would just go down from there. It would bring about a temporary peace like what happened after Shinobi World Wars… because there weren't enough shinobi left alive to fight. That was not peace, merely a ceasefire dressed in pretty words. Meaningless black on white no village including Konoha would follow at first sign of weakness.

His father, Namikaze Minato, had gone down that path. From what Naruto had seen in the memory, his father never wanted to be such a phenomenal mass killer. The Yondaime simply had no choice, the war had started and the choice was down to kill or be killed. The reason he invented a technique meant to kill an army? That was because that was how a war _always_ ended, forcing your enemy to submission after their forces were depleted.

He had seen it through his mother's eyes, the weary glint in those cerulean blues they inherited from Muramasa. The slight slump on his shoulders as if he was carrying the weight of the world. He had also seen his father break down in front of his mother, clinging to her as if she were his lifeline. He had felt the grief, regret and defeat because of that choice…

Naruto looked at his friends, Shisui was still whining at Itachi about their ordeal. _'I don't want to feel that… but I don't want Itachi and Shisui to feel them even more.'_ He had killed those ROOT children in self-defence and the obligation to free them from their misery. He didn't let it get to him— he had done everything he could considering the circumstances— but it didn't stop him from wondering… when he was alone in his own mind he wondered, perhaps if he had tried harder he could have saved them, too.

"Ne, Naruto."

His attention snapped back to reality. "Did you say something, Shisui?"

Shisui's left eye twitched. "Are you pulling a Hatake on me?!"

"Shisui, Naruto has never met Kakashi-san…" Itachi sighed, clearing his throat before covering his mouth to muffle his cough. "Never mind, Naruto, if you didn't get the reference."

Naruto shrugged, he was not interested in whatever reference related to his father's student. "If you say so."

Shisui frowned, "You're not interested in Hatake Kakashi? He is your father's lasts student, ne?"

Itachi hissed. "Shisui!" They had applied a privacy seal so, outside of a certain range their conversation couldn't be heard, but Naruto's pedigree was still a sensitive issue. Not to mention he didn't like to talk about anything that could hurt Naruto's feelings. By rights, Hatake Kakashi was the Yondaime's protégé and surrogate son, and yet… Naruto was all alone. Maybe he was ordered to keep his distance but Itachi didn't even hear a peep on Kakashi trying to know anything about Naruto yet so far. Heck, he and Shisui had seen Genma and the rest of Yondaime's guards in tower to learn Fuuinjutsu. While the guards didn't specifically looking for Naruto he was pretty sure their eyes were quick to catch glimpse of Naruto whenever the blond was passing by.

Hatake Kakashi didn't even take that chance to check on his sensei's son.

"Interest in my father's student?" Naruto echoed.

"I mean…" the shunshin expert flailed.

The blond shrugged again indifferently. "Nah… I don't think either of us are interested in each other's whereabouts. He has his own life and I have mine."

"You're not angry?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, ignoring pained expression on Shisui's face as Itachi elbowed his cousin. "Nah… like Itachi said, I've never even met the guy. And frankly, it's hard to feel anything about someone you don't even know personally." What Hatake was to his father aside, their current relation was that of fellow Konoha shinobi. And… he was, perhaps, Itachi's future captain in ANBU on the next transfer. So his best friend's future captain…

"What do you expect anyway?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at Shisui who sputtered. "Nevermind, we have bigger concerns here, don't you think? Like our worst enemy. We all know what~"

Itachi sighed. "In the end, our biggest enemy to bring changes is not the clan, or the Tower but—"

Naruto snorted. "How ironic, that we ultimately have the same problem on both ends."

Goddamned clan pride.

"At any rate, we can't afford to fail," Naruto drawled on. "One year sounds long but not long enough to topple a century old tradition."

Shisui sighed. "Aaah… why oh _why_ is it never easy for us?" He wondered out loud. "And our sponsor is someone like that to boot."

"He taunted us until the end," Itachi added his own two cents. "He is very resourceful though… It's a relief that he is on our side, but that research document he promised…" Itachi trailed off rubbing his throat.

"Itachi?"

"Hn?" *cough*

Naruto and Shisui were looking at him with worry now. "Um… it's been weeks but you are coughing a lot lately," Shisui pointed out.

"And you get tired quicker than usual… and your appetite…" Naruto trailed off unsurely. "You should get a checkup soon."

Itachi shook his head. "It's fine… my stamina has never been the best, perhaps it is because I didn't sleep well in the palace in the duration of our stay."

"If you say so…"

"More importantly… about the document Ieyasu-sama promised."

Naruto frowned. "Well… as for the Nidaime's research notes that he kept with him..." The damned document he stored inside the seal and was reconsidering giving up on. "He promised he will give it to us in six months but why is he even bothering to wait that long?"

Itachi nodded, swallowing nervously. "It's just… while the Nidaime was a genius jutsu inventor, I doubt a shinobi technique interests someone like Ieyasu-dono enough to keep with him." It unnerved Naruto just how must the Nidaime's document worried Itachi. "It always bothered me why someone as fair and just like the Nidaime was so worried about our clan, Madara's betrayal aside… His past actions suggested he wa not someone who blamed the whole clan over one person."

"Yeah… he trusted my dad." And Kagami was part of his guard to boot so he trusted an Uchiha to guard his back.

"Which is why… I have come to one conclusion, perhaps his cautious way of dealing with the Uchiha clan… placing the clan in charge of civilians…" Itachi trailed off. "Perhaps it had nothing to do with Madara's betrayal? But something more… based on discernible evidence and acted upon after much thought," Itachi finished. "And I have a feeling that answer is inside that document Ieyasu-dono keeps… and perhaps..." Itachi never finished that line of thought.

Naruto and Shisui could almost taste the dread emitting from Itachi for they also thought the same. Senju Tobirama was second only to Senju Hashirama and followed his brother's ideals. But it was his pragmatic approach that mediated and forced a more realistic alternative in order to achieve those idealistic goals. He was not someone who acted on the basis of unfounded suspicion and paranoia. Whatever forced someone like Senju Tobirama to treat the Uchiha Clan the way he did… The reason was most likely justified. At least from the Nidaime's point of view.

And whatever justified Nidaime's actions, it couldn't be good.

* * *

**Konoha (Hokage's Office)**

"Ah… you have returned, Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun…"

While their outward expression was controlled to form only slight surprise at the sight of the Hokage and his three advisors in the office, Naruto was inwardly narrowing his eyes and frowning. Danzo…. he was here, this man was never present to greet his team after a mission, so why now?

Perhaps the war hawk felt threatened by their recent actions? As if… While two Uchiha following a jinchuuriki around would raise concern, his friends were explicitly loyal to Konoha. In fact, Danzo had agreed with the Sandaime's decision accept Itachi and Shisui's admittance to ANBU force.

"We have." Naruto smiled wide and bright at Sandaime. "We've returned from Na no Kuni, the detailed report on our secret mission is inside," he said as a thin file appeared on his hand after a faint puff of smoke. "Hokage-sama." It looked like a sleight of hand at first glance but at the same time displayed his skill in using simple storage seals.

Danzo eyed him with faked disinterest, but Naruto could sense a momentary _'beat'_ in his calm chakra at Naruto's little show. "Hm… this is a vast improvement from the wayward child you let loose to terrorize our village with his pranks and embarrassed our ANBU to chase him all over Konoha, Hiruzen."

It took all of his self-control not to retort with something witty while ignoring Kurama's suggestion from the depths of his mind. He let his cheeks reddening slightly as a sheepish and embarrassed smile curved his lips. Give your best natural reaction when reminded of your almost forgotten and embarrassing childhood as a prankster, he told himself.

His grin stretched wider. "Ah... I used to be a petulant child." He let sheepish laughter escape his lips. "But since I am now a shinobi, of course I have to take my duties seriously."

Judging from impassive look he got, Danzo was not impressed by his standard reply.

"Well… Chuunin Uzumaki has performed well in his duties so far," Utatane Koharu drawled on. "At least, until the latest mission he took upon himself."

They were seriously admonishing him for disobedience _now_?!

"It's unfortunate that my clan business made me unavailable for a week, so is there something you need from me, Koharu-sama?" Naruto tilted his head to the side as he said it, still polite but not apologetic at all.

The sole female elder was definitely unprepared for a query instead of an apology. If an older shinobi had replied with the same line, it would have be rude but Naruto was only nine this year and it sounded more like a sincere query. Then again, Naruto had been selling his image as a young and inexperienced shinobi with a fierce eagerness to please his leaders.

"No, but..." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Regardless of your Chuunin status, it doesn't mean you can just run off for clan business on such short notice."

Short notice? Naruto was pretty sure he had notified them of this mission long enough to not be considered as on short notice.

"There is also your recklessness in going after three jounin level missing-nin on your own," Homura added in exasperated tone. "Youngsters nowadays… such impulsiveness is unbecoming of a shinobi."

He was expecting this kind of admonishment coming sooner or later but it was still annoying to hear them. Shisui, who was standing beside him, looked very tempted to say something in his defence though the shunshin expert thankfully kept his mouth shut.

"To be fair, Homura-sama, I didn't go into the battle without forethought. It's hardly considered impulsive if I decide to go after an opponent with time to plan." He placed his hand above his heart. "After all, the sealing arts are most formidable when one is given enough time to prepared." They had been on this case before, why were they mentioning this again?

Were they looking for a way to curb his activities somehow?

At last, the Sandaime, who had been very quiet, spoke. His silence had made Naruto more nervous than the elders' litany of complaints. "What's done is done… whatever we say is not going to change Naruto-kun's mind." The Uzumaki blinked in confusion. "However, the least you could do is bring your team with you next time but, of course… I'd prefer no next time."

Naruto blinked at that. "Teammates?" He had no team— while there was a small pool of comrades consisting of the Uchiha cousins and Shiomitsu plus the Sanseki siblings— they weren't his official teammates. "You mean—?!"

Sandaime glanced at Itachi and Shisui then back to Naruto. "Starting from today, the three of you are officially a team."

Itachi and Shisui glanced at each other for a moment then at Naruto who returned it. _'An official team, now?'_

_'Like we need to be official'_

_'Obviously there is a catch.'_

_'Of course there is.'_

They were openly sharing a 'speaking look' but they didn't really care that Sandaime and his advisors were watching.

"However—"

**'Called it.'**

Sandaime cleared his throat and the team straightened. "The official assignment as a team aside. I would like to confirm whether my shinobi is still belong to Konoha."

Naruto blinked at that. _'Oh, Hokage-sama is wondering whether I am going to follow Asuma-san's footsteps.'_ So that was why he was using the carrot and stick now? "We're not joining the Twelve Guardians, Hokage-sama…"

"And why is that?" It was Danzo who asked now.

Naruto was ticked, it would be fine if Sandaime was the one who asked but when this cripple did it… it sounded like he was questioning their loyalty. After the 'incident' with the ROOT trainee Danzo had set upon him, Naruto loathed how this man tested him. Who was Danzo to question him? This was the man who claimed to cross moral horizons and beyond for the good of Konoha while forsaking the main teachings of the Shodaime and Nidaime in the same breath.

He was very tempted to clamp his mouth shut but that would destroy his image as young shinobi who was eager to please for acknowledgment. One shred of his old self he kept so he wouldn't be seen as a flight risk.

"Why would I want to serve royal family? Konoha is my home… my family." That was not a lie, it was his honest answer. Naruto mentally kicked himself for using Konoha's 'Will of Fire' as stock answer for this question.

Sandaime looked at him in the eye and Naruto suppressed his urge to bolt out of the room. "Then why…" He fished out a scroll with the Daimyo's seal on it from his drawer, slamming it on his desk. "Why did I receive a notice that one of _my_ shinobi is engaged to our Daimyo's niece and was requested to be given time off for one week every month for his education as future in-laws of royal family?!"

There was no killing intent whatsoever but the anger and disappointment the Hokage emitted was enough to made Naruto felt like he had committed a grave crime. _'Damn you, Ieyasu-ji! Why didn't you warn me first?!'_ Knowing the shadow ruler, it was most likely this was one of his lessons. It was also most likely Ieyasu's way to warn Naruto that, from now on, this would be a routine: disappointing the Sandaime and doing things the old kage disapproved of.

It was not much a stretch he would be on the Hokage's opposing side for Konoha.

Hahaha… who was he to criticize Danzo if he was becoming another Danzo to Hokage? The only comfort was that he wouldn't go as far as kidnapping unwilling children and discarding his morals.

Naruto almost stumbled when he felt two warm hands on both shoulder, he glanced back and saw his friends nodding at him. They were here with him, he was not alone.

He took a deep breath and answered in firm voice. "Our Daimyo's niece is an Uzumaki by blood," he informed them, and the elders looked shocked by the revelation.

They didn't know?

"Her father took a liking of me and offered… Considering the current condition of my clan, I decided it is a good match," he explained, simple and logical. And the other benefits attached to this arrangement were a plus but he wouldn't say that though. "So why not?" He added almost innocently.

"You're too young."

He shrugged, "We're not getting married now, Hokage-sama…" The engagement was already official on paper though, fortunately without the pomp and party. Although… the most incredulous part he hadn't even met with his fiancée yet.

Knowing Ieyasu-jii, that tanuki most likely just wanted to troll him later.

"Naruto…" Hokage-sama called him in his grandfather voice, and he mentally winced. "There is no point arguing about this, I suppose?"

For a moment he debated what kind of response would be appropriate, grin like a loon, shrug like he didn't give a damn or… He shed his 'happy' mask for a moment, letting a weak smile on his lips. "It's something I must decide for myself and my clan."

Ieyasu might be the one who suggested the 'union' but Naruto had decided to accept the proposal on his own discretion.

"Clan?" Danzo's indignant voice snapped his attention towards the war hawk. "There are no Uzumaki clansman for you to lead in Konoha, boy."

"Danzo!" Sandaime admonished.

His eyes hardened. Danzo's words felt like a slap across his face. Had it been said before his trip to the capital, he would have throttle the one eyed cripple, something… anything painful for needlessly reminding him of his clan's scattered status.

He beamed at Danzo and, with sadistic pleasure, he took note of the subtle cringe on that wrinkled face. Obviously, Danzo was not used to being smiled at by a nine-year-old boy, especially if the said boy bore a close resemblance to his Hokage father.

"We're planning to remedy that soon," he informed them. "I have been planning to gather my clansmen who are scattered all over the Elemental Countries."

It dawned on the Sandaime in that moment; what Naruto wanted the most from his alliance with royal family; why his surrogate grandson was almost desperate for more political power: he wanted _his_ clan back. He wanted… a family. It made so much sense of his recent actions.

"Child," Danzo began, displeasure coming from him in waves. "Who do you think you are?! Uzushiogakure may be our eternal ally, and your clansmen relatives of the Senju… but don't forget that the Uzu refugees had scattered all over the Elemental Countries and some are even in service of other shinobi villages! Inviting them into Konoha for your selfish desires would cost us much!"

"Danzo!" Sandaime warned him and the war hawk tensed from the killing intent pouring out of the Hokage. "Don't say such thing in front of these young shinobi, especially Naruto-kun."

The relationship between the Tower and the Uchiha with the village was fragile and distant. Danzo's warning was sound, but he forgot that he was talking to two young heirs of two prominent clans to Konoha. He knew Itachi and Naruto were loyal, but testing that loyalty would do more harm than good. Not to mention, for orphaned Naruto who used to be village pariah, Danzo was openly denying the boy a chance to have family related to him directly by blood.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Excuse me," a deep voice said, not waiting for permission to come in. Sandaime already knew whom it was; typical of this man to barge in as he pleases. "I believe I can find our young master here."

Naruto craned his neck towards the door. "Hakurei…"

The long haired seal master inclined his head towards the Uzumaki before taking his place to stand beside Naruto. "I have received the same notice from Ieyasu-dono just yesterday and I can't believe you welcome Naruto-kun by harassing him."

"Watch your mouth, Hakurei!" Koharu hissed, she never could get along with him. Their mentor and Kagami were fond of Hakurei and his twin, but Koharu had never liked the man who never truly swore his allegiance to Konoha.

Hakurei rolled his eyes, not bother to hide it to annoy them. "Look who's talking… I believe that, Konoha elder councilman or not, you guys still have to stick with proper manners when talking to the heir of Uzumaki Clan," he drawled on, and to piss them off even more he stuck his pinkie into his ear. "Aargh, your screech hurts my ears, Koharu. How the heck does your husband stand you, I wonder?"

"YOU! How dare you!"

"Koharu!" Homura held his female former teammate back. "You know him! He is just riling you up!"

Hakurei blew his finger, rolling his eyes again. "As usual, Homura… you're good at restraining her: must be a product of experimenting during your misspent youth~"

"HAKUREI! You will be sorry!"

"I am already sorry for myself for walking in on you years ago, poor me and my twin," he moaned, shaking his head.

Naruto, Itachi, and Shisui had wisely jumped all the way to the other side of the room, staring wide-eyed at the chaos occurring opposite them. Hakurei stood, unbothered by the chaos he had caused, yawning widely and earning himself another banshee-like shriek from Utatane Koharu. Danzo and Sandaime were restraining their fellow elders, Danzo showing that he was stronger than Homura by keeping the man's hands apart so he could not form hand seals. As for the Sandaime, they were in awe when the Hokage didn't even cringe at the threats Koharu hollered at him if he didn't let her go to kill Hakurei.

Chaos. That summarized the situation nicely.

"Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun!" Sandaime called them out in midst of chaos, "You're dismissed! Submit your paperwork in three days and don't be late! I will speak with you again then!"

Paperwork? Oh… they almost forgot they were officially a team now.

**"Katon!"**

"Danzo! Stop Koharu!"

"Yes, Danzo… can't you even restrain one old granny?"

"Hakurei! Stop trying to get people to kill you!"

Wisely, the newly formed and almost official Uzumaki-Uchiha-Uchiha team fled from the scene through the door, and they didn't stop running until they got to the one place where they felt safe.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the Shinobi Academy…**

Naruto-sama had been hounding them for months on promoting their new open class for sealing fundamentals— which actually just was not done yet on their end because it was hard to relate to the material Naruto-sama had compiled on the Academy's curriculum. Uzumaki, like Naruto-sama, especially one with the perk of abusing Kage Bunshin, couldn't comprehend that normal children couldn't complete the foundation stage in one year like he did.

Yuzuriha and Tokusa themselves, while not as bad, still had to wrap their minds around how little academy teachers taught their students about mathematics— which was mostly not useful because no shinobi calculated kunai trajectory while on the field— and the equally low focus on calligraphy and kanji. Academy students wrote with pencils most of the time, so when the handy pencil was replaced with a brush, most of them couldn't write anything readable. Clan children weren't as bad at the calligraphy skill as far as they knew, but that was only for the Hyuuga and Uchiha.

Other prominent clans didn't care to go beyond legible.

These were results of observation from looking at the latest exhibition of their calligraphy class on the hallways of Academy. Said class was on their third year, and the main target for recruitment. Not too young and not too old, the basic math and calligraphy already covered in academy were another plus. It filled Yuzuriha and Tokusa with despair that apparently, their expectations were too high.

Then again, the youngest seal master was Naruto-sama and he was not the most reliable measuring stick.

"Aneki."

"Nani?"

"According to the academy curriculum handbook," Tokusa brandished said book, tapping a specific paragraph. "They only have a calligraphy workshop once; it's like art and craft class."

Yuzuriha kissed her hopes to find a prospective disciple, goodbye. "Is that so?"

"Maybe we should open a calligraphy and math class first?" Tokusa wondered out loud.

The sandy haired kunoichi scowled. "We're not a civilian cram school!"

Tokusa laughed sheepishly. "It's just a suggestion… but still…" He craned his neck at calligraphy paper with an almost illegible 'Inuzuka' on the corner, and it seemed the canine partner also participated.

 _火の意志_ was the line they had to write. _Hi no Ishi_ was a standard practice because, as future Konoha shinobi, the children would have been told about it thousands of times until it was ingrained into their minds.

"I can't read this Inuzuka kid's work…" Tokusa deadpan. "Not to mention halfway, he was out of space and forced the last character to squeeze in the end at a much smaller size."

Yuzuriha winced when she spotted several papers with same problem. "Gah… another problem we almost overlooked."

Fuinjutsu, as an obscure art, was widely regarded as a field of study not any shinobi could learn. The effort and time consumed by research and experimentation was the biggest obstacle as most shinobi didn't want to expend them. Age was another, most shinobi chose to specialize in something after they reached chuunin rank and, by that time, fuinjutsu was not an art you could easily learn from scratch.

Another reason was… sometimes, you simply _couldn't_ practice the obscure art due to motor or visual-perception difficulties. The former was a more common problem and could improve with practice but, from what they knew, shinobi with motor problems never reached the proficiency to practice fuinjutsu. The latter was even worse because, from medical research Tsunade-sama herself had done, it couldn't be fixed.

Visual perception was a cognitive skill, like language processing, verbal memory, or problem solving. Children with poor visual perceptual skills would also often have difficulty with mathematics beyond memorizing math facts. A subset of visual perception is visual memory— holding an image in the mind's eye and being able to retrieve an image when needed. It was the one fatal flaw that nailed the door to fuinjutsu closed.

They couldn't tell if these children had those problems from just these examples but they didn't expect a lot of applicants in the first place. However, if any willing children had to be rejected because of something they couldn't control… Yuzuriha didn't want to imagine the repercussions if the unlucky kids were part of prominent clan.

Tokusa was thinking the same and then pointed at a much neater-looking work on the opposite wall. The name read 'Hyuuga Hinata'. "At least the heir of Hyuuga undoubtedly doesn't need remedial lessons in calligraphy."

Yuzuriha blinked. "Aah… I think Shion-san mentioned the Hyuuga applying for a number of their Main Branch members, was this child included?" She had a biased suspicion the Hyuuga thought fuinjutsu was an 'intelligent' art befitting their station or something along those lines.

Tokusa shrugged. "Saa… but if she is, it would be a big deal."

Yuzuriha eyed the neater and precise writing Hyuuga Hinata produced. "As expected of Hyuuga Heir… she will make her clan proud, don't you think?"

Tokusa tried his best to not look at the not-so-hidden girl fidgeting behind a nearby vending machine. "Yeah, if she is interested with our class… that would be nice." Then he added in whisper, _"You're seriously interested in the Hyuuga heir? The one rumoured to be scared of her own shadow? And your acting is lame, aneki. Naruto-sama would be disappointed in you for trying to con a little girl."_

 _"I am sure the rumours are exaggerating, and I would love to help give this girl a dose of self confidence. The fact that she is the Hyuuga heir is a bonus though."_ Shinobi politics at its finest. Besides, she didn't lie; Hyuuga Hinata would have an easier time than her peers since she had already got calligraphy covered.

Yuzuriha smiled when she felt Hinata's chakra shift, followed by tiny and hurried footsteps. The girl was embarrassed. "Besides… I can definitely appreciate lower ratio of testosterone in our Tower." The majority of seal master in the Tower, like in any shinobi corps, was male. "So based on these examples, we have Hyuuga Hinata…" She also had Haruno Sakura listed, that adorable girl she rescued before.

Tokusa took a peek at the list his sister made. "Oi! All of them are girls! Are you implying all boys have crappy handwriting?"

"Then go find some boy candidates we don't have to start from the correct way to hold brush!" Yuzuriha said dismissively.

Tokusa groaned, but didn't voice his protest out loud. He wandered over the boys' portion, thankfully the academy teachers separate the work on gender. The Inuzuka boy was definitely out— terrible handwriting aside, he didn't see how to incorporate fuinjutsu with Inuzuka's fighting style. Then there was Akimichi's… better than Inuzuka's, more precise, but it was dirty. There was an oil stain on the paper and potato crumbs stuck and painted into the ink.

Akimichi ate all the time; definitely not a prime candidate for seal master when they had the most hygienic workshop next to medic nin. Depriving them from eating would go against the Akimichi's philosophy.

At last, he found a good one, neat and precise after a dozen of so-so and terrible work. It belonged to an Aburame but there was one concern… There were some white spots in his writing suspiciously around the size of kikaichu. Did some of his insects wander onto his work-in-progress by accident? For a moment, he pondered whether insects in workshops were a hazard or not. In the end, Tokusa wrote 'Aburame Shino' down with a note to discuss it with Shibi-dono first. The Aburame clan head had a good relationship with them after the ROOT fiasco.

Then, next to Shino's, there was another good work but with one glaring problem: the size of his work was four times smaller than his peers. Obviously, it belonged to a Nara, the son of current Jounin Commander. "Why the heck did this kid write the characters so tiny?! He should have filled the whole paper— not one-fourth of it!" It didn't look out of place because the kid centred the line, but this was still cutting corners.

This was one lazy kid and obviously, lazy and fuinjutsu didn't mix but… "Mou! I am just considering candidacy based on handwriting anyway!" He wrote down the name Nara Shikamaru quickly on his note.

Another line of so-so work that bore him to tears later, he found a perfect work; neat, precise, with no fault. By the standards of eight or nine year-olds with no practice in sealing, anyway. He blinked owlishly, somehow this writing style was familiar. As a seal master, he was taught to remember writing styles as others remembered faces.

"Oi, Aneki…"

Yuzuriha turned her attention to Tokusa. "What?" She asked in flat tone.

"Don't you think this writing style is eerily familiar? Especially the styling on the kanji… fire?" Most kids would pull a short stroke, but this one had coma like stroke from the top.

The female Shiomitsu blinked. "You're right? This is one of the best work so far, whose?"

As one, the two Shiomitsu lowered their gaze to the corner of the paper, where they saw equally neat writing of 'Uchiha Sasuke' plus the paper medal as best work. "Ah."

Itachi's little brother. No wonder the writing style was familiar. From what they heard in passing from Shisui, Itachi's little brother idolized the Uchiha prodigy. They didn't expect the worship to extend as far as imitating Itachi's handwriting, though.

"Well… Uchiha. I suppose, as long as he didn't plagiarize anyone's work, he would do." Tokusa wrote the name down. "But this is going to put the kid on the bottom of the list."

The tendency to imitate, regardless of the reason, was frowned upon in their field of work. They understood this child perhaps did this subconsciously, but it was a big minus in their book. Oh well, considering their current relations, they didn't need more connections with the fire-breathing clan.

"What's the chance of an Uchiha to be interested in fuinjutsu, anyway?" Yuzuriha wondered out loud. So far, neither Itachi nor Shisui showed much interest despite being Naruto-sama's best friends. As fuinjutsu was one field of ninja arts where they couldn't use their bloodline for an edge, it was no wonder. He couldn't imagine Itachi's little brother being any different.

Their discussion was cut short when a chuunin with scarred face called them over, informing that his students now were ready for their presentation. They reminded themselves for the thousandth times that, while these kids were Naruto-sama's age, they were brats. Not Naruto-sama.

Time to face the horde…

* * *

**Ichiraku Ramen**

_Slurp_

_Slurp_

_Slurp_

It was pretty therapeutic, thinking of nothing but inhaling noodles, scooping the savoury broth and taking small bites of ramen topping. Also forgetting the traumatic experience of the dysfunctional dynamic of Konoha's veteran shinobi.

"I wonder what it was that we saw in Hokage-sama's office?"

At least until Itachi opened his mouth, he had almost completely forgotten the last three minutes of their stay in the Hokage's office.

Shisui snarled at his cousin before gulping down the leftover soup on his bowl. "Could you please not remind me?! Itachi, you don't get the meaning of 'too much information' do you?"

Itachi tilted his head to the side in confusion; considering Naruto had enlightened him about the birds and the bees just few months ago, it was no wonder the Uchiha prodigy didn't get the implications of what Hakurei said.

"Itachi," Naruto began gently. It was at times like these that Naruto felt like he was the older one. "Don't think about it too much." Itachi tended to stress over everything, there was a reason why the Uchiha heir had aged prematurely. "Let's just say what happened in the office makes me wish the Yamanaka Clan offered brain bleach services to the shinobi population."

Shisui nodded vigorously in agreement.

Itachi nodded, and he didn't ask for further explanation. He trusted Naruto's judgment. "Oh, I see…"

"Still…" Shisui trailed off. "Too much info aside, I can't believe Hakurei waltzed in and made a circus out of the Konoha Elder Council."

Naruto nodded. "At least now I know why we have never seen the complete set of advisors plus Hakurei together." He turned them back to genin mental age.

"Hm…"

Naruto and Shisui glanced at Itachi who was sitting between them. While Naruto was still learning the intricacies of his sensor ability, he could perceive simple emotions from chakra— especially Itachi's as he was very familiar with it. The Uchiha heir was happy, excited even.

"Itachi?"

"We're an official team now." His tone held its usual impassivity but they could feel the underlying joy. "And since we're a team of chuunin, we will be sent to higher mission as part of the regular force."

 _I can't wait._ They could almost hear the unspoken excitement.

They had been an unofficial team since they met, so why did being official mean so much for Itachi? Looking at the understanding smile on Shisui's lips and how he ruffled Itachi's hair fondly, much to Itachi's annoyance, Naruto guessed Shisui knew why.

"Alright, Itachi, we will be greatest team you ever had! Even better than the Sannin!" Shisui declared.

Naruto laughed at that. "The Sannin? Then we better start looking for another Hanzo to nickname us."

Shisui grinned. "Hm… Why don't we ask Ieyasu-sama instead, the next time we see him?"

"Hell no, he'll either give us a ridiculous name just to rile us up or something fire related. And I am not going to get myself infected by your pyromania anytime soon. Hahaha, no way…"

"There is nothing wrong with having an inner pyro! Don't you think watching things burn to a smouldering fire, leaving behind glowing embers that pulse with such inner light— isn't just the thought therapeutic?"

Naruto was not impressed at Shisui's attempt to phrase the Uchiha's love for fire poetically. Although lately, after spending so much time around Itachi and Shisui, not to mention fanning their flames with his wind, he had started to understand how burning things was… no nO NO! Don't go to the dark side, Uzumaki Naruto!

"By the way, Naruto…"

"Hm?" Naruto snapped his attention back to reality. "Yes?"

Itachi looked nervous, which was odd. Why he acted so awkward over team placements? "Is it alright to finish our paperwork, soon? By tomorrow, perhaps?"

Naruto nodded, as being a researcher was part of the seal master description, doing paperwork came to him easily unlike most action-oriented shinobi. "Sure… after what happened today, I don't think I will continue my research anytime soon." At least not this week. "If you and Shisui are busy, I will write for your parts, too."

"Really?!" Shisui cheered. "Yatta!"

"Shisui… Do your own paperwork sometimes, you can't always foist them on to Naruto or me."

Shisui pouted. "Eeeh… but it's troublesome."

Itachi shook his head exasperatedly. "Your generous offer aside, I asked because, with our official status, it would be fine if I invite you to dinner with my family."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes… my parents looks forward to see you." Since forever, his mother especially. "You're officially my teammate now, and it's a tradition for teammates from prominent clans to invite you to dinner together."

There was such a tradition?! Was this why Itachi so happy about the official status? That was just so…

**"Best friend or not, if you put Uchiha together with 'adorable' I will give you nightmares! Of your parents procreating!"**

Naruto shook his head frantically, confusing Itachi and Shisui. "Yes, of course! I will go!"

"Why you're shaking your head then?" Shisui asked.

He was still shaking his head. "Kurama."

"You do realize Kurama-san can't see you shaking your head, right?" Itachi pointed out.

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

"You are all my oldest friends and comrades!" Sarutobi Hiruzen hollered at them. "I've known you all since my childhood, and YET! Why can't you just sit and converse like civilized human beings when you're all in the same room?" It had been like this since Mito-sama passed away; a crack had formed in their friendship when the Nidaime had passed and had deteriorated even further after Kagami's and Sangetsu's deaths.

"Fine, fine…" Hakurei rolled his eyes.

After Sandaime threatened bodily harm, the argument and struggling stopped and the meeting was wisely continued with a new sitting arrangement. Sandaime was sitting beside Hakurei while his advisors took their seats on another side of his desk. It was not ideal but at least Hakurei the Troublemaker was not within immediate reach of their deft hands.

Danzo cleared his throat. "So. You came to save your young master from the trouble he dug for himself. You spoil that child rotten."

"Considering how you treat children, of course I look like spoiling Naruto-kun to you," Hakurei retorted smoothly.

They locked gaze with each other, narrowing murderously. "Don't start again," Hiruzen warned, gaze irritated.

Hakurei shrugged, breaking eye contact with Danzo in the same time. "Oh yea… So why did you call me again?"

Sandaime was not fooled by Hakurei's facade; he never forgot anything where Naruto was concerned. And for those same reasons, Hakurei never forgave and never forgot any slight against Naruto. "I am thinking of promoting him to Tokubetsu Jounin soon." Sandaime ignored the sharp intake of breathe from his teammates and Danzo. "So I want your opinion on whether his skill in fuinjutsu is at an appropriate level yet."

"Hiruzen, you—"

"Silence. I am talking to Hakurei. If you interrupt me again, the door is just right there, Koharu." The Hokage pointed at said door.

Hakurei didn't seem surprised, which confirmed Hiruzen's suspicion that the Shiomitsu wanted him to drop the metaphorical bomb on the others. "He passed the 5th Dan exam just last month and is well on his way to 6th Dan."

Traditionally, the skill level of a seal master was defined with Dan ranks, with Disciple as lowest and 9th Dan as highest rank. After a student passed the qualification exam marking the end of their foundation year, they would receive the rank of 1st Dan and, from thereon out, will move numerically upwards as they advanced. Each level was attained through an exam they could take on an unfixed timeline— unlike the Chuunin Exam— by presenting a complete fuinjutsu project that proved their credibility for next level.

Danzo scoffed. "Your Dan's mean nothing here and can you prove that you graded the jinchuuriki fairly?"

Hakurei narrowed his eyes, but he didn't rise to the bait. "If anything, his status as an Uzumaki sets our standards for him higher, _not_ lower…"

"Danzo, if you wish to follow this discussion you will not speak out of turn." He was not in the mood for their squabbling. "So would you recommend promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin for Naruto-kun?"

The long haired seal master eyed the Hokage skeptically. "You were so dead set against promoting Naruto-kun because of his young age, why are you changing your mind now, Hiruzen?"

The Hokage sighed. "I am following your advice. The last time I ignored it…"

_**"Don't swim against whirlpool current, you will be sucked in."** _

He tapped his pipe against the rim of metal ashtray on his desk before he continued. "I learned from my mistake. Trying to hinder Naruto-kun once he had set his mind on something is an exercise in futility. I am not giving him special treatment… It's more logical and healthier for our old hearts to let Naruto-kun advance when he deserves it rather than giving him _ideas_ to work _around_ the limitation we set on him."

Homura eyed his long-time friend curiously. The kage looked tired. "I see… I suppose, bygiving the boy a higher rank with clearance for higher ranked missions we know he can complete with his new teammates, is a much better choice… Much better than hunting missing-nin."

The only saving grace of his reckless action was the boy went to his hunt prepared.

"I disagree…" Danzo drawled on. "His latest action is borderline treason, going behind his superior's back to make an alliance with a noble, no less."

Hakurei, while offended by the accusation, was more amused by the hypocrisy in Danzo's part. "Funny _you_ said that…" He ignored Danzo's withering glare. "And the noble is our Daimyo's family. Last time I checked, they're not our enemy, are they? I believe we're under their employment."

Sandaime sighed. "What's done between Naruto-kun and the royal family is out of our hands, I just hope he and his clan… and all under the Uzumaki clan aren't going to regret this choice."

"Oh, we won't," Hakurei replied confidently. "If anything, it would do Konoha more good than bad— besides, we all know who is actually in power in the royal court, don't we?"

"…"

"…"

"…Is that assumption based on Tokugawa Ieyasu's fondness or Namikaze Muramasa?" Danzo inquired, his lone eye narrowed dangerously.

Hakurei just smirked. "You don't know him at all, do you? Believe me, if that man has taken a liking of my young master, pedigree is just fascinating trivia to him."

Tokugawa Ieyasu was infamous for valuing personal merit over bloodline. That was why, even though Takechiyo, their official daimyo, was a bumbling fool and indecisive, he had a group of competent advisors handpicked by Ieyasu with the shadow ruler himself as part of the group.

"We're just going to waste time if you want to discuss what Naruto-kun did in the Capital; there is nothing you can do about it, anyway. I get it, you're all upset. But, as Hiruzen said… you will get nowhere." He cleared his throat. "And without more distractions from the main topic, I disagree with the idea of promoting him so soon."

Silence…

Obviously, no one in the room expected Hakurei to not support the promotion of his young master.

"Does that mean his skill level in fuinjutsu is not adequate for the Tokubetsu Jounin rank?" Hiruzen asked coolly, assessing the objection calmly.

Hakurei snorted. "As if." Then he pulled out an orange scroll with a spiral pattern out of a sleeve pocket and unrolled it on the Hokage's desk. It was a storage seal with the kanji for paper on each circular formula written neatly across the scroll. "This," Hakurei stressed. "Is a scroll compiling _all_ the research documents for Naruto-kun's sealing projects."

Sensing Danzo's interested gaze Hakurei added, "And _no_ , I am not giving you any copies. NO." He snarled at Danzo.

They almost forgot the mama bear protectiveness of a sealing master over their research notes.

Hakurei cleared his throat. "Now, as I was saying, so far, there are ten finished and officially tested projects, five finished but untested, and over thirty works in progress."

Their eyes widened in shock; it was an unusually large number for someone who learned of seals less than three years.

"Three of the finished ten are already being mass produced to the public. Namely, the _Godai no Juujika [Five Element Cross Seal], Senkou [Flash Seal], and the Gome Jimen [Sticky-Ground Seal]_ ," he listed.

Of course, the Hokage and councilmen knew of the three seals. They were very popular with the shinobi population for their simplicity and ease-of-use. Although the Godai no Juujika deserved special mention for versatility, it had been banned from selling it to shinobi below Chuunin rank.

Looking at their amazed face Hakurei knew what the question of the year: _'How the hell did Naruto have the time to work on so many projects? Didn't that boy have other duties, too?!'_

"He used at least ten Kage Bunshin on a daily basis: one for daily chores, five to research and the rest experimenting," Hakurei counted. "Naruto-kun himself alternates his schedule between researching, field experimentation, training, and missions."

Koharu gaped. "With that kind of abuse, the Kage Bunshin should have fried his brain from the memory overload!" That boy shouldn't have even learned Kage Bunshin yet! But considering who he hanged out with on a daily basis, it was no wonder.

Hakurei nodded. "He knocked himself out when he started this insane schedule, right on the first day… and you know me. As long as it doesn't kill anyone, I am the type who lets our kids touch fire so they know it hurts."

Koharu bristled, she had never agreed with the rough way Uzushio's refugees handling their children. Rough handling was fine, but not when it potentially gave the child a stroke. Never mind how resilient their kids tended to be, it was no excuse for half the things they did.

"Though… in Naruto-kun's case, rather than staying away from the fire after it burned him, he tried to find a way to touch the fire without getting hurt instead."

The Shiomitsu unsealed two stacks of research papers from the scroll, the first had neat writing _Godai Juujika Fuin_ and under it was Naruto's name. The second scroll was far from neat, the binding was crooked, some of the papers were not the same size, and there was a smudge of ink on the cover. The paper was titled with the same style of writing but the author had obviously written it in a hurry with the title _Kioku no Kiroku_.

Memory Document…

The name was straightforward but sounded like a pun at the same time; they couldn't tell whether Naruto was serious or not when naming the seal.

"There are around ten or so fuinjutsu papers in the same condition…"

They could almost see metaphorical sparkle from the first in comparison to the shoddy-looking second paper. "Is it that the boy can't be bothered or does it depend on his mood?" Koharu wondered out loud.

Hakurei waved his hand in negative. "All the cluttered paper documented here are on seals for his personal use."

"What?"

"In short, seals he made out of urgent need like, for example, that pesky headache the memory transfer of Kage Bunshin caused," Hakurei elaborated. "The reason my young master is not brain dead yet is because he converted the chakra used to construct his clone to spiritual energy that made up the 'memory' part and stored it inside this seal. Then, when he is sleeping at night, he transfers the memory as 'dreams' so he can get the substantial information with minimum mental strain."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Danzo was trembling in anger, he kept his emotions under tight control most of the time but this was outrageous even for him. "Isn't that a high-ranked mind seal?! Imagine how useful that seal for espionage! And that boy kept it to himself for extra study hours and as a cure for his headaches?!"

Hakurei rolled his eyes. "That's what you get for limiting him to missions C-rank and below, and limited his pool of sparring partners." He sighed loudly. "Naruto-kun is _very_ creative and imaginative but he is, more often than not, likely to set his mind on the problem at hand and not looking further…"

"That is self-contradicting," Homura pointed out.

"Basically, to Naruto-kun, this ingenious seal you think could be put to better a use than providing 'extra study hours' is just a solution for his headaches and mental exhaustion. No more, no less. Not because he is short sighted but because he has _never_ been put in a situation where he could put it for better use."

In short, the limits they had placed on him had curbed his potential in fuinjutsu.

"Well, that and because Naruto-kun is rarely motivated for his own sake," the Shiomitsu added with a sigh. "So this seal that he made for himself was only developed as far as he deemed necessary and stopped there. I had to ask him to pile the scattered paper for this seal and I know some of it is missing and not in order. The binding is sloppy, and I am pretty sure the naming is the result of sleepiness." Because Naruto stayed late to find scattered papers and some pages smelt like a mix of citrus fruit and trash. "Or it's a lame pun Kagami's son suggested."

He was not sure which but he was leaning towards the latter.

"And I don't recommend using this seal for field use, because it's never been tested on someone else… Side effects that, perhaps prevented by his status. Naruto-kun didn't even bother to figure out the exact chakra consumption… and another dozens of untested variables…" Hakurei listed on in exasperated tone.

At this point, all of them were staring at him, wide-eyed. Obviously, it was not what they had expected from his young master.

"And is there any other seal like this… Kioku Kiroku?" Hiruzen winced, the name sounded like a tongue twister. Obviously, it was Shisui-kun's idea of joke.

Hakurei gave him deadpan look. "This one is one of the few worth mentioning… There is another seal that draws moisture from its surrounding environment—"

Didn't that sound like what their teacher, Senju Tobirama was famed for?!

"— used to save water consumption for his garden. And he uses it as an automatic sprinkler when he is on missions," Hakurei droned on. "And before you harp on how it sounds like imitating Tobirama-sama, the amount of water produced is only enough to water his plants because the range is poor and, when I suggest on developing the seal to Nidaime's level…" Hakurei trailed off in despairing tone.

" _'Eh… why would I want to do that? Isn't it easier to just use a storage seal tailored for elemental techniques? We can just use Fuuka Houin as its base.'_ "

If there was a childish side left of his young master, this was it. He liked to find easier solutions rather than try the hard way when he could get away with it. "He made that in three days, reusing the same theory for the Godai Juujika." From the seal specifically made for Katon, to an all-element one. "Nowadays, he saves a river worth of water inside and carries it around as Itachi-kun's suiton water source."

That sounded like Naruto-kun alright, Sandaime couldn't help but thought.

"And there is—"

"Alright, I get your point!" The Hokage interjected in exasperated tone. "So what else?"

Hakurei beamed. "I am glad to hear that, I thought I'd have to get to how my young master modified an explosive seal to emit controlled heat as a dish dryer."

"What?! He uses _what_ for _what?!"_ The Hokage hollered.

Hakurei shifted his eyes to the side, maybe he shouldn't spill about that one. "Uhm, never mind."

"Tell him to remove it from his kitchen!"

"Really? I thought it was ingenious and hygienic." Hakurei sounded very impressed about it.

Sandaime was not impressed. "Forbid him from using fuinjutsu for mundane things! Seals are not for chores!"

The old seal master raised a white eyebrow. "You do realize we use seals to vanish dirt and dust in our Tower which is why we never use brooms, don't you?"

The Hokage glared at him, obviously the old kage didn't care that Hakurei had to sound like a hypocrite should he prevent his surrogate grandson from using dangerous seals for mundane applications.

Hakurei sighed. "Fine… and back on track, most of the unfinished projects here are on the stage of 'preliminary research' so it's just theory and brainstorming… He didn't have enough experience and knowledge to move the project to the next step." He inhaled deeply. "And this is why I object promoting Naruto-kun now…"

Koharu frowned. "Are you telling us that he has a tendency to leave his work unfinished?"

He shook his head. "As seal master he has flaws but doing things by half is not one of them… He just leaves it for later when he has enough resources to complete it. Inspiration for fuinjutsu doesn't come all the time, even for an Uzumaki..."

"Is that so?" Danzo sounded sceptical.

Hakurei glared at him. "Most of the time, seal masters makes designs for 'general' purposes, which is why the most common seal in public circulation is the storage seal and explosive tag." It was one of the most simple and basic designs, but beloved by shinobi population because it suited their purposes anytime.

"This is why that Godai Juujika Fuin of his, is favoured among our shinobi force… But as you can tell, in his second and third year, he didn't produce any seals suitable for mass production."

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that? Shouldn't he improve and design better seals? You make it sounds like he is declining."

Hakurei scoffed. "Of course he is improving… however his design objective change from his first year, or to be exact from designing seal that 'everyone' can use to the more specific target and function."

Sandaime narrowed his eyes, his expression thoughtful. His first year was when Naruto was recently offered apprenticeship to sealing division; he still lived outside of the Tower and, while he didn't interact with a large number of shinobi, he was not that out of touch with the general population. His first three seals were simple in design, and served to accommodate quicker execution of nature manipulation, trapping and capture, and distractions. Things everyone in their force could use.

And then in his second and third year… he was more isolated. Most of his mission fell into a similar category, and he didn't interact with anyone outside of his small circle of friends and comrades. Naruto was always motivated by his need for acknowledgement from people he cared about. The Sandaime didn't want to admit it but, if Naruto had previously craved acknowledgement from the whole village, he now only cared for selected people.

Which was why…

"I see…" His attention snapped to Danzo who had thoughtful look on his face. "You're telling us if we want more results from him, we should push his limit?"

Hakurei's left eye twitched. "Pretty sure that's not what I meant."

Danzo looked smug, and the Hokage was sure he wouldn't like whatever his rival was planning. "I believe it was recently decided that Itachi and Shisui will be transferred to Team Ro under Hatake Kakashi."

Hiruzen sighed, as usual Danzo had taken a peek at documents meant only for his eyes. "Yes… because there is no empty slot in ANBU teams after we lost Team To last year."

It was a great loss, and to lose the ANBU team inside their village to boot. Suddenly, he had a sinking feeling where this conversation was heading to, so he made up his mind and prayed to his late predecessors he was not making another mistake.

"So Hakurei… how is their teamwork? I know they are very close friends." Close enough to join Naruto going behind Hokage's back. "But teamwork is another matter entirely…"

Hakurei as if sensing impromptu tug of war for his young master pounced in. "Enough to impress Tokugawa Ieyasu." That was vague but something, the shadow ruler was not a man that easily impressed. "If you want… spare your time next week and come to our personal training ground, you will see something interesting."

His grin told them he knew something they didn't.

* * *

**In another part of Konoha Village**

"Gotcha!"

Shisui eyed the golden adamantine chain wrapped around his midsection. "You know, is there a need to restrain me when I am in the middle of executing a Shunshin? And why me? You let Itachi go." There was no interruption to Itachi's shunshin from Naruto, but he was caught by the blond for some reason.

Naruto pondered for a moment before answering. "Eh… yes. I needed to catch you for the first question and second, I need to ask you something. Something about Itachi so I let him to go home first so we can talk in private."

"Why didn't you just say so? Are you sure you don't just want to prove that you can catch Shunshin no Shisui with your chakra chain?" Shisui wiggled his eyebrow in amusement.

The jinchuuriki just grinned sheepishly. "It's more fun this way."

"My pride hurts," he pouted.

Naruto rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "You will be fine~" Before proceeding to drag Shisui towards the nearest training ground he knew was rarely used due to a wild boar infestation. As long as they stayed on high ground, the wild animals wouldn't interrupt them.

Shisui made himself comfortable on the high branches of one of the abnormally tall trees born of the Shodaime's chakra that were common in Konoha. "So… what about Itachi?"

"He seems a bit too happy over the 'official team' status we just got. Do you know why?" Naruto asked in his blunt fashion.

Shisui rolled his eyes. "Typical… straight to the point and painfully blunt. Then again, I am not some noble you need to dance with words with." He shrugged. "But you first, are you unhappy about it?"

Naruto sighed. "It's not about being happy or unhappy about it; we're already a team through and through. Official or not. However, with this, more people will know about us, and I don't want this arrangement to trouble you because you two are Uchiha and I am a jinchuuriki."

The Uchiha scoffed. "Glad to know you're concerned about us but to Itachi being a team… A team the Hokage and Konoha acknowledges, is important." He grinned. "As for why… Did you know that kids like you who graduated early usually get teamed up with older genin?" Naruto nodded. "Me, too, but I got lucky enough to be teamed with genin just one year older so it wasn't much of a gap."

Naruto cringed, he starting to get where this was going.

" _Deru kugi wa utareru_ … A nail that sticks out will be hammered," Shisui quoted the old proverb in a sage tone.

He narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "If you excel, you are subject to criticism and envy…"

He recalled how older students in the Academy took pleasure in "putting him back in his place". Back then, he never won the spar but he held his head high and never showed himself as weak. No winner felt like they really won the fight when the opponent looked unbothered and ran his penalty lap like it was nothing.

"Not everyone is as lucky as you, Mr Already Part Of A Division," Shisui huffed. "Itachi and I were pretty relieved Hokage-sama didn't put you with older genin actually."

Naruto averted his eyes, recalling how he used the Hokage's fondness of him to get out of that. Obviously, Itachi and Shisui didn't get the same luxury. "I see… So he had a problem with his genin teammates or perhaps his jounin instructor?" He hazarded a guess.

Shisui nodded. "Itachi graduated at seven like you and was placed under Jounin Minazuki Yuuki with older graduates." He rubbed the back of his head, trying to recall Itachi's forgotten genin team. "The jounin and kunoichi of his team are decent people but the other guy, however…"

"Typical… there was a bully picking on Itachi because he was younger and more talented?" No matter what generation, there was always a bully who thought they could pick on younger shinobi just because they could.

"I think his name was Tenma…" Shisui nodded to himself, confident that he didn't get the name wrong. "Itachi had ignored him since they were in the Academy. I caught the guy demanding Itachi to apologise for his success and for being an Uchiha." And then he chased the jerk away for being a jerk, because Itachi wouldn't resort to violence even if the brat deserved it.

Naruto snickered. "And that incident didn't go on their report card, I suppose. And whose brilliant idea was it, to put that boy in the same team as Itachi?"

"Saa…" The shunshin expert shrugged. "But you know Itachi, he treated the jerk civilly and didn't let the poor team dynamic hinder his career… Itachi's accomplishments even earned Team 2 the honour of guarding the our official Daimyo on his annual trip to Konoha as the best genin team of the year."

The blond tilted his head to the side; it didn't escape him that what earned them the honour was _Itachi's_ accomplishment not _the team's._ "There is something like the "best genin team of the year?"" If there is, he wouldn't know because he was never a part of genin team and never will be.

"The team who was awarded that title is given the symbolic honour to guard the Daimyo." How that was an honour or reward, Shisui didn't know. Guarding pompous nobles was not fun, especially if Naruto was not around to distract them from complaining about everything.

"I guess that our Daimyo is actually protected by the Anbu and Twelve guardians from the shadows in that mission?" Who was insane enough to trust a genin team to guard their lord on their own, anyway?

Shisui nodded. "Yep… The keyword is _symbolic_ honour."

Naruto nodded sagely. "So… how is this mission relevant to my question? Did this kid get killed in this mission?" At Shisui's shocked look, Naruto added. "You used past tense. Obviously, this Tenma is no longer in the world of the living."

Shisui sighed. "There was an ambush and… he rushed towards an unknown enemy."

He cringed, that was one sad way to die. Any shinobi that had enough guts to go after a Daimyo would be at least jounin level, and this genin rushed to attack a jounin on assassination mission? Sure, there were situations where you had to go against superior opponents, but charging ahead without planning when you had a jounin instructor with you was foolish. There was being reckless and there was suicidal.

"So this honorary mission went downhill… Itachi went home short one teammate, and his other teammate quit the shinobi program soon afterwards, too." Shisui looked pained. "Because with one dead teammate and she, herself, hopeless to catch up to Itachi's level…"

Itachi's former teammate most likely had no ill intentions. She was being considerate, ensuring that she doesn't hinder Itachi's progress. Still… for the nine-year-old Itachi, to be left alone by his first teammates…

"That's not the end of the story, I suppose?" He hazarded a guess at Shisui's scowling face, no doubt the Uchiha was still recalling yet another unpleasant page of Itachi's life.

Shisui nodded. "I blamed Fugaku-ji for giving in to the clan's demand to push Itachi to advance quicker… Itachi was just getting to know his replacement teammates back then and then someone higher up thinks it's a brilliant idea to give Itachi a pass to take to Chuunin Exam solo in the following year." Itachi hadn't known and Fugaku-ji had accepted it on his behalf. Shisui was appalled that Itachi's father had let Itachi go alone.

"Solo?!" Naruto's eyes widened at that, how was such thing allowed in Konoha? "He had teammates! Why did he have to take that exam alone?!" Not to mention, back then, his new teammates had time to improve; most genin teams waited one year to be recommended for the Chuunin Exam. "Politics…" Naruto growled the answer out. "Danzo again, most likely?"

"Yep, at the rate that one-eyed cripple is going, I think we can blame almost _everything_ on him."

Naruto snorted at that. "Close enough."

Shisui cleared his throat. "So, Naruto, for you and me, the status as an 'official team' doesn't really matter, but to Itachi— it's important to him, because it's reduces the likelihood that we will be separated… because we're his equals. He doesn't have to be worried that you or I will be left behind or leave him…"

 _He didn't want to lose us_ , that was what Shisui wanted to convey.

Naruto was stunned, so there was a part of Itachi he didn't understand yet. _'To Itachi… this team is important.'_ Like a road sign that pointed to a path they would walk together as shinobi.

"Alright, I get it," he sighed, raising his hands in surrender.

"Heh?"

Naruto rubbed his temple. "I mean… Let's be an official team. We will deal with the repercussions later." As long as Itachi was happy with it.

Shisui cheered. "Yay! You're the best! This is why you're my favourite brat!"

"Call me a brat again and I will throw you into that river near the Uchiha compound— it would be an ironic death considering your name…" Naruto threatened.

Shisui cooed. "Aww~ I know you love me."

"Hahaha... Sorry, I am engaged and not swinging that way," Naruto retorted.

"Why do I have a feeling that you will use your committed status for jokes from now on?"

"What makes you think so?"

* * *

**Uchiha Compound (Main Family's House)**

Itachi had been staring at nothing in particular and Sasuke was pretty sure now his brother was spacing out. This was unusual. "Nii-san?"

"I have a feeling that I've been left out of something."

"Huh?" Nii-san was so weird today, weirder than usual.

"Unfair." Then he poked Sasuke's forehead before the younger Uchiha could react.

Sasuke protested, "Nii-san!"

Only to receive another forehead poke he was sure he didn't deserve.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know AN is mostly ignored... so here is a long one you SHOULD read if you have questions on your head after reading this chapter:
> 
> This chapter basically closing the ARC of moving forward, in which Naruto and his team gets around limitation placed on them to gain support from outside... Now we can focus again back to Konoha.  
> After the last few chapters I feel I emphasize more on their 'mature' side so in this chapter after one job done and well over their expectation they allow themselves to relax a little and shows slightly childish side.
> 
> In this chapter I also reveal Naruto's weakness, or emphasize them in some part of this chapter. First, Naruto has a hard time controlling his emotion around Danzou. While Naruto is not the most prideful character in this story, and he can set it aside when situation calls for it when he is set face to face with Danzou the war hawk just naturally set him on edge. Naruto won't admit it but he is VERY bitter about what happened with Root children Danzou set on him.
> 
> As Danzou said, Hakurei arrived just in time before Naruto make a mistake.
> 
> As for his Fuuinjutsu, well the irony is that Naruto didn't notice he is getting 'selfish' which shown almost blatantly on his latest work of fuuinjutsu. In his first year he makes something 'everyone' can use, but he is getting more 'specific' on who he wants his seal for. He is isolated from majority of Konoha population so he is becoming ignorant of what everyone need.
> 
> Mention of Kakashi here is basically outlining what Naruto thinks of peoples with close relation to his parents he never ever met.
> 
> Kakashi... Jiraiya... Tsunade (maybe) ... I am looking at them to be specific.
> 
> I know a lot of fanfic blames them for not being there and everything. In this story... as Naruto said he is not expecting them -whoever they are to his parents- to be there for him. He knows them from memory and their reputation but he has nonexistent emotional ties to them. Sandaime who is close to him is not helping with how distant the Hokage is to him sometimes. I don't know how it goes in canon manga, but in anime flashback... when he denies Naruto's request to know 'something' about his parents. He is very cold... sadly Naruto don't have a high standard for people he hold dear which explain why he is so quickly attached to team 7 in canon.
> 
> I show some background on Itachi in this chapter, based on novel Itachi's shinden. I modify a number of things to fit the plot. I just think I need to show Itachi's different side.
> 
> This also starting a new ARC... in my head the next one is going to be roller coaster of feeling or something. ALSO... enter Rookie 9 (minus Naruto)


	17. 17th Legacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This site is where I post unbeta-ed chapter because I know I am safe from grammar nazi here.   
> If anyone want to read fixed chapter, please wait for it in ff.net or here... sometime at the end of this month.

**Interlude: Oblivious monkey and Envious Hawk**

Hakurei once told a chronicle of shinobi village founding era. Once upon a time a twin Shinobi followed their parents as aides for a beautiful red haired princess of Uzumaki to a new village. She was beautiful, and intelligent. She was the perfect match for Senju Hashirama, the charismatic clan head of Senju. However his story was not about the Uzumaki princess or Shodai Hokage, but what followed years later.

Hakurei and his twin Sangetsu were introduced to the two teams Nidaime formed to be his future subordinates. Back then he and his twin were determined to serve Konoha to end warring era, as extension of Uzushiogakure for Konoha.

So it was no wonder whenever Nidaime’s subordinates went they were not far as support. There were two boys that especially hold their attention, because according to Mito-sama, her brother in law saw potentials in them to be the next Hokage. The first was Sarutobi boy who at first seemed to be Niidaime’s model student was a bit bratty, but he had a good heart and strong Will of Fire. The other boy was much simpler in their opinion. He was hot-headed and eager ninja with a strong desire to prove himself. Their name was Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzou, and the twins were becoming fast friend with them.

They wondered who Nidaime was going to choose in the end.

Then they started to see a seed of problem on the second boy, he had inferiority complex towards the first. Having a rival and desire to surpass said rival was good and encouraged, but in this boy it didn’t seem to be a positive reinforcement. Sangetsu approached Danzou and warned the Shimura to not be so obsessed over his rivalry with Hiruzen as it would just hinder his progress if he was not careful.

His advice went unheeded.

Hakurei approached the other, and asked what Hiruzen thought of Danzou. The Sarutobi definitely had no idea Danzou held such negative feeling towards him, he thought they were friends and nothing’s wrong with Danzou.

The twins hoped Danzou’s obsession and Sarutobi’s obliviousness wouldn’t be their downfall, Tobirama-sama had such a high hope for them.

They admired Tobirama-sama and respected him like Mito-sama, but they wished he could have picked a better time to pass his hat. Once the grief over losing their leader passed, the twins felt ominous premonition for Hiruzen’s and Danzou’s future. The circumstance of Nidaime’s decision was like the last straw that pushed Danzou’s unhealthy inferior complex to the brink.

Hiruzen, trusting and kind Sarutobi had no idea. He even chose Danzou to be one of his advisors. At first they hoped the position would placate Danzou somehow, perhaps he would forget this souring rivalry.

No such luck, it only went downhill from there.

Time passed and they became older and supposedly wiser. Most people seemed to think Danzou had matured, he became completely calm, cold and collected. He did not allow his emotions to surface, adopting stony like face even better than Uchiha.

Kagami agreed and laughed, Hakurei and Sangetsu didn’t see anything funny. Rather than maturing all they could see was how jealousy twisted a driven and brave boy Danzo used to be. It didn’t take long for Kagami to catch up with them, and he too was getting worried for his teammate.

Hiruzen never saw it coming, he thought Danzou was sacrificing himself with forming ROOT to handle darker mission. He believed Danzou wouldn’t go astray.

Danzou had definitely grown up, he got older but he was not getting wiser… Apparently wisdom was optional when you grew old, unlike what most elders believed.

**“Danzou, you alone are not Konoha.”**

He was so blinded by his own ideals he couldn’t even comprehend such a simple warning from Hakurei’s young master. Danzou might placed the interests of the village above all else, even ethics and morals. Konoha was everything to him, but in the same time Danzō came to hate the previous Hokage's beliefs. It made Konoha weak to him.

Until now Hakurei still couldn’t comprehend how Danzou forget that their beliefs were the foundation of Konoha. What was this village without it? He couldn’t even understand that one simple truth and Konoha he saw was no longer a village shaped by Will of Fire and its people but  _ his  _ ideals.

And just like that Danzou who believed he was Konoha’s most loyal Shinobi had unknowingly made himself her greatest traitor. He dared to think of himself as Konoha, and throwing away the Konoha he and Hiruzen swore to protect.

The irony didn’t amuse Hakurei or his young master, it made them feeling nothing but pity for Danzou. He gazed into the abyss for so long to the point he couldn’t tell Konoha that was once a light in his heart. He was such a pitiful man.    

* * *

 

**17** **th** **Legacy:** **_Unexpected Windfall_ **

Iruka cleared his throat loudly, not because his throat itched or anything but because the gesture never failed to get his students to stop whatever they were doing and pay attention to him. Then again maybe it was because he always cleared his throat before yelling. But never mind! Chouji at last stop munching his chips and Kiba was not talking with his dog anymore.

“Ahem! Today as I announced yesterday we have two Shinobi from Sealing Division…” He gestured towards the two young Shinobi standing a few feet away beside him. They were pretty young, he couldn’t help but thought. They were looked few years younger than him, so around fifteen to sixteen perhaps? “Thank you for coming… err.” Damn, how could he forget asking their name first before calling them in?!

The kunoichi just gave him a small smile, elbowing snickering shinobi beside her. “I am Shiomitsu Yuzuriha from Sealing Division, Chuunin, 6th Dan seal master.”

“And I am Shiomitsu Tokusa, same division… Chuunin, 4th Dan seal master.” The boy added.

The teacher quickly regained his momentum. “Ah yes, thank you for coming Yuzuriha-san, Tokusa-san.” Then he turned his attention back to his students. “They are here to introduce Fūinjutsu to all of you and just like Medic-nin Division before them. They also here to look for potential recruits for their Divi-”

He had not finished speaking but one of his model student raised her hand so quickly he afraid she would pull a muscle. “Erm, yes Sakura-chan?”

“I want to join Sealing Division!” She announced. “Sign me in please, sensei!”

“Eh?” Sakura usually was a very shy girl and here she was volunteering herself.

Yuzuriha-san waved at her, “Ah! Hello Sakura-chan!”

Was that hero-worship he saw in her eyes? “Yuzuriha-san! You remember me.” She chirped.

“We would love to have you with us.”  Yuzuriha gave the girl a bright smile.  

Nani?!  Iruka resisted his urge to protest, “Is it alright to decide so quickly?” Shouldn’t they discuss it with their superior first?!

Yuzuriha just smiled and with amazing dexterity threw a small handbook towards Sakura, and the book landed with a spin on her desk. “Of course… we’re given full authority to accept recruits right away if we see promising potential in them.”

Iruka frowned, but his students had not shown anything to them so what potential she saw in Sakura.

Tokusa answered his unspoken query. “We scheduled our visit today because it’s right after your calligraphy week so we can assess their work.”

“I see.” Iruka was surprised they put that much thought in this. “Well, congrats to Sakura-chan then.”

The pink haired girl beamed and hugged the book happily. “Uhm!”

We were off with a great start, Iruka thought.

“Why you’re so happy to join Sealing Division?” Kiba wondered out loud, “They’re a bunch of nerd.”

Silence…

“But Sakura is a nerd anyway.”

Other children started to pipe in, “Really?”

“Yeah… you have to be very smart to be one of them and read a bunch of scrolls.”

“Yikes! I don’t wanna read boring stuff after academy!”

Sakura glared at the boy, “Kiba you baka!”

“Hey!”

Iruka shouted, “All of you settle down! Kiba! Watch your mouth or I will-“

Tokusa interrupted, “Ah… an Inuzuka hm?”

The Inuzuka could almost smell the smugness all the way from the front of the class. “What?”

The Shiomitsu cleared his throat. “Well, great timing—while most civilian born here would hardly know about Sealing Division and Fūinjutsu, we’re sure Shinobi clan children would have heard of us at least… and even then most clan’s knowledge of Fūinjutsu is minimal. So it’s no wonder you’re ignorant of Fūinjutsu…”

Kiba growled, “I am not an idiot.”

“Ignorant means lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact…” Sakura who sat behind him corrected. “Not idiot.”

Ino who sat beside her sighed, “Kiba, shut up already. Iruka-sensei looks really mad you’re embarrassing us in front of these Shinobi.”

Iruka was very close to march to where Kiba was sitting but Yuzuriha stopped him. “It’s fine Umino-san, they’re kids. We understand…” She turned her attention towards the student. “You are not completely wrong to say to be a seal master you have to read a lot… which is why our field is not popular in Shinobi population.”

Tokusa nodded sagely, “Hai hai… it’s almost sad, and why our mission to come here is very important to Konoha.”

At the word  _ mission _ and  _ important _ all students of his perked up instantly, even bored looking ones like Shikamaru and Sasuke. Iruka now got it what these two were doing, they were trying to get his students sense of adventure piqued first. No kids learning to be a ninja could resist temptation of adventure, and words  _ mission _ and  _ important _ were drawing their attention like bee to honey.

“Now… kids, do you know what is Konohagakure’s first line of defense?” Tokusa asked, grinning widely.

It was Kiba who answered, “Shinobi of course.”

Yuzuriha and Tokusa sweat-dropped, was it just this Inuzuka or kids these age were simple-minded in general? “Not the exact answer we’re looking for Inuzuka-kun, you’re not wrong but that’s a too broad…”

The Inuzuka blinked in confusion, and the puppy on his head whimpered. “Then it’s us, the Inuzuka!” He boasted proudly.

Sasuke glared at Kiba and stood up, “As if Kiba! We Uchiha run Konoha Military Police!”

Before the argument could escalate Tokusa held his hands in X position. “Sorry, both of you get it wrong!”

Yuzuriha quickly added before the two boys felt offended in their clan’s behalf. “First of all… in Inuzuka-kun’s case, your clan specialize in tracking… and your clan technique geared towards offense. So no defense is not your clan’s forte. As for Uchiha-kun… while yes the Konoha Police Force is in charge of civilian your clan defend Konoha to a degree, your clan works closely inside our village and that’s as far as it could get to outer perimeter of our defense line.”

Both boys seemed placated by the explanation and satisfied.

Shikamaru raised his hand, surprising Iruka because the boy participated on his own accord. “Then why Inuzuka or other offense oriented clan can’t be our first line of defense? While it’s troublesome, offense could be the best defense.” His father taught him that.

“That’s an excellent argument.” Yuzuriha nodded more to herself than to the boy, as expected of Nara heir. "It’s true any Shinobi can be Konoha’s defense… however the Konoha Shodaime build never use offense as the best defense and never will. Attacking first before we get attacked is not in line with his wish for peace when he built Konoha…”

Iruka nodded at that, “As Yuzuriha-san said Konoha’s way is different than most Shinobi Village… a bit of history lesson here. Shodaime and other founders built Konoha to end warring clans era, and in his reign he promoted peace and tranquility…”

“Which is why Konoha’s first defense is pure defense…” Tokusa finished. “As for the answer we’re looking for…” Then Tokusa walked towards the blackboard and began to draw, it was Konoha’s outer wall and and half-sphere covering the village. “Konoha is the only village protected by barrier as old as the village herself… our first line of defense that protects both Shinobi and civilians of Konoha.”

Iruka gaped, he didn’t know that! Wait… this was not something confidential, right?!

Yuzuriha giggled at his horrified face. “Don’t worry, it’s not a military secret… majority of Shinobi just didn’t know because no one tells them.” The barrier was just there since forever, like part of the scenery of Konoha. It would be like telling people in Konoha about Hokage monument, the difference was it couldn’t be seen with naked eye.

Shikamaru raised his hand once again. “And this barrier is created through Fuuinjutsu, right?”

“Correct.” Yuzuriha answered, maybe there was hope for this kid after all.

Then Shikamaru slumped on his seat, looking up at the ceiling with a sigh. “Troublesome.”

The Shiomitsu siblings sweat-dropped, and as soon as his interest waned he acted like he wanted to be anywhere but here.  Tokusa quickly draw something on the blackboard, before all enthusiasm sucked out.

Iruka let out a silent scream, his mouth opened wide at the sight of a very familiar seal formula Tokusa was drawing on their blackboard. “Tokusa-kun! What are you doing that’s an explosive seal!”  It didn’t look like the common formula sold in the market but the kanji  爆 baku (explosion) in the middle was unmistakable.

That got reaction from his students, half was in panic while the other half was excited in hope something goes boom.

“Settle down kids! You too Iruka-sensei!” Tokusa sighed loudly. “No qualified seal master would let seal as basic as this to explode on their face.” All panicked students quickly sat back on their seat, and now they were as interested about the seal. After all explosive tag was something academy students were banned to buy.

Yuzuriha recognizing the gleam on their eyes quickly added. “And no… even if somehow you guys can redraw this at home it won’t explode.”

“Why?” Some boys whined in disappointment, the formula looked very simple! Just squiggly looking circle and kanji  爆 on the centre.

Tokusa grinned mischievously, “To know you have to sign up for the class kid, and then we will tell you why.” The reason was simple, this was the compact formula of high grade Kibaku Fuda so the real formula was three times the size of its compact size. This formula could be downsized to be as small as coin, unlike mass produced ones that filled the whole paper tag.

One boy snorted, “Why can’t we just buy it from the store rather than drawing them ourselves?”

At that question Iruka winced, that was one thing he was worried about would dampen their interest in Fūinjutsu. Seals could be bought in stores, which was one of many reasons why not many Shinobi wanted to delve in this obscure art. It was in Shikamaru’s word, troublesome.

Tokusa didn’t seem to be offended by this question and Iruka had a feeling the Shiomitsu siblings already had a list on possible annoying things kids would throw at them.

“Then we have a question for you, who are the strongest shinobi that also a seal master?”

That draw blank look from most students saved a few.

Sakura raised her hand quickly. “Yondaime-sama! Namikaze Minato!”

That answer broke the silence and the students began to chatter among themselves. It was no wonder, to children and civilian Yondaime was a war hero and his prowess was well known. But only Shinobi knew what backed up that legendary reputation.

“Correct… Yondaime-sama’s Hiraishin no Jutsu is actually a Fūinjutsu.” Yuzuriha began to explain. “However it should be known this technique is not his original, but recreation of Nidaime’s work.”

“Then Nidaime-sama is a seal master too?!”

Tokusa nodded sagely, “It’s not common knowledge but all Hokage have rudimentary skill in Fūinjutsu… Yondaime and Nidaime in particular are masters in their own right.”

Kiba piped in, “But how come they have time to kick ass if they’re stuck reading scrolls and drawing?”

Iruka decided after this seminar was over he had to give Kiba a stern lecture.

At that question Yuzuriha pulled the long scarf on her neck then without warning the long fabric darted out and grabbed one of logs for kawarimi practice stacked on the corner of their classroom. The fabric wrapped around the log and it broke to splinters. Iruka gaped in shock, by right a fabric that thing wouldn’t be able to break a log and from such distance to boot.

Kiba cringed his nose, “Yikes! What the hell… something burns!”

Iruka eyed the broken log and indeed there was smoke and when he hovered his hand over the remains, there was heat. “This is…”

“There are two types of seal master… combat and support.” Yuzuriha held up two fingers. “As you can see I am combat seal master so all my seals geared towards aiding my other shinobi arts… in the other hand support delves more on broader field for their seals such as communication, medical, security… and so on. This didn’t mean they’re less combat effective but their field of expertise require more research time and preparation…”

“Of course there are seal masters who excels in both.” Tokusa added. “Nidaime in particular was one, Yondaime in the other hand is a very skilled combat seal master.”

Iruka suddenly feel these two were much better than he was in history. “So…it’s difficult to excel in both?” Even though in principle they are all Fūinjutsu?

Tokusa nodded, “Ah yes… actually for rudimentary seals like Explosive Tag and Storage scroll… all seal masters could produce them with their own original touch, however as you get higher in rank you can’t be jack of all trades. In Fūinjutsu you can’t learn by half… as for seal master specialize in both combat and support seals… they’re what we called Generalist… and even them excelled in few branch of Fūinjutsu but their skill in the rest would be more than just rudimentary.”

“So there is so few of them?”

“Hai… currently in our division there are three of them out of over sixty certified seal master.” Yuzuriha told him brightly.

Iruka gaped at that, two out of over sixty was…

“Then isn’t that suck?” A student grumbled.   

Tokusa shrugged, “This also apply to Shinobi from regular force, becoming a jack of all trades is not going to help you to get far as you advance in rank. In fact it’s encouraged since you become genin to look for specialized skill…” 

That earned them thoughtful look from the students, obviously most of them didn’t have long term planning for their career. Tokusa suspected they were naively think along the line of graduate and becoming kick ass ninja. This was going to be a long way for any of them to think about the advantage of being an intern. 

“So… let us enlighten on you on the most basic knowledge of Fūinjutsu…” Tokusa began with an almost maniacal gleam on his eyes.

Yuzuriha paled, “Erm, Tokusa maybe…” 

Too late Tokusa had started and no one could stop him.

* * *

 

**The Tower (meanwhile)**

Naruto snapped his head to random direction, suddenly he had a feeling he forgot something and about to regret it. “Naruto-sama?” 

“Ah yes, Hakurei?” He was almost spacing out just now. 

“Naruto-sama… this is not what I had in mind when you seek audience with Tokugawa Ieyasu.”

Naruto-sama was obviously resisting his urge to fidget, staying very still like a statue. He was getting very good at it, Itachi-kun was a good model. “Neither I was, to be honest.” He admitted almost sheepishly, “Things got out of hand… very quickly.”

It always will. Did Hakurei expected anything less after… Aizen’s incident, ROOT’s attack, and… dozens other smaller trouble he and his friends got themselves into? Frankly the only venture to trouble Naruto-sama got that didn’t get out of hand was that one mission for Na no Kuni. If you discount finding loose alliance between the oldest brother with Yuki no Kuni, and bigger mess that their current Daimyo was sponsoring rogue ninja to stage coup in minor countries without Shinobi Village’s protection…

Alright, bad example. Hiruzen was pretty unhappy that ANBU and ROOT had to be dispatched to prevent the spread of Yuki’s rogue network. Now it was minor annoyance, in few years? It would cost them too many potential clients to ignore. Konoha might have reputation as  _ ‘nicest’  _ Shinobi village, but they were not that charitable.

“Even so…” Hakurei trailed off, eyeing the copy of their contract. “This is completely different scale of ‘get out of hand’ or ‘going downhill’ even by your standard, young master…”

“I know… it must be what a fox feel if it have to drag a prey bigger than it is.” Kurama was not amused at Naruto imagining the Kyuubi in normal fox size, huffing and failing to drag a giant meat to his den. “And then said meat squashed it.”

Hakurei’s left eye twitched, “While I get what you’re getting at Naruto-sama, ‘bite off more than you can chew’ would be more apt. You don’t have to invent a new idiom.”

“In my case, Ieyasu-jii shoved the whole thing to my mouth.” He opened his mouth wide to emphasize his point and stopped before he could pull the inside of his cheek to open it wider by Hakurei.

The older seal master wondered why his master in spite of being mature most of the time at random times act like a kid. “I get it… I get it, young master.” He assured the young Uzumaki. “But please don’t repeat that within Hiruzen’s hearing range.” It would be a disaster.

“Huh?” He blinked in confusion before he realized the accidental double entendre. “Oh.” He grimaced, “Oek!” He made choked out noises, disgusted by his own words.  

Sometimes he wished his young master was still as oblivious as Itachi-kun when sexual innuendo was concerned. No such luck of course, especially with Shin and Sai living in the tower. He was very tempted to march back to ROOT’s headquarter to bash Danzo’s head in, because the idiot thought assigning Shin and Sai to learn civilian’s behavior in area close to red light district was a brilliant idea.

They didn’t curse like a sailor fortunately. No, their new wards were one of most polite children. However they came to know about the mechanic of procreation too early and they were getting too informative.

He had a feeling the emotional conditioning failed on them was partly because of this. It would be hilarious irony in Danzo’s part, but not funny when Shin and Sai became their responsibility. He lost count of how many bar of soap he sacrificed to stop them from talking about genital in daily basis. It was too late though, their slip up lit Naruto-sama’s curiosity and like any curiosity driven Uzumaki he looked it up.

Well, at least it was a good lesson that not every new things you heard was worth researching. At least now Naruto-sama would be well informed, for himself and… Itachi-kun. That irresponsible Fugaku-brat, he never changed at all. He always ditched babysitting duty even when he was a child.

Speaking of Fugaku…

“Have Fugaku been informed?”

Naruto-sama stopped his gagging and turned his attention back to Hakurei. “If he has not, he is being informed as we speak or soon enough.”  He shrugged, “By the way, where is Tokusa and Yuzuriha? It’s rare they didn’t welcome me home today.” 

“Oh, they’re in academy for that seminar you proposed.” 

Naruto blinked at that, “Eh… I thought I told you to send Yuzuriha only, and if you have to send two seal master why not Shion?” 

“Didn’t Naruto-sama also said that sending someone young is a good first impression, we’re selling image of spirited division full of young generation.” Hakurei looked very proud about their champaign. 

Naruto’s left eye twitched, “I believe I said something along the line that someone close to their age would get easier time for kids to warm up to them. And… since when we’re spirited division full of your peoples?! That would be a hoax since I can count people under twenty living here with my fingers!” 

Yes, they really needed fresh batch of next generation however… Naruto was not so optimistic to think there would be a lot potential recruits found in academy.

* * *

 

**Back in Academy**

“Wait! Yuzuriha-san! Tokusa-san!” Iruka called out the Shiomitsu siblings.

Two dots like eyebrows shot up at him, obviously they didn’t expect him to chase after them halfway across the academy after dismissing his class. “Iruka-sensei, do you need something from us?”

He panted softly, “Erm… there are students who are interested in your class! Your division! Please consider them!”

The two shared a speaking look with each other and Iruka didn’t have to know them to guess what they were thinking. They obviously couldn’t believe he would run after them just because they rejected some civilian students. Then again Iruka was sure they didn’t care civilian born or clan children status.

However Iruka wanted all his students to have better chance to get to shinobi force even if they were not part of lucky three teams out of ten. However the chance of that failing percentage getting better was close to nil, especially with class full of clan heirs like his. So their chance was getting into division corps as intern.

“I did tell you Aneki… using handwriting skill as reason is not going to cut it.” Tokusa-san, the younger Shiomitsu said to his sister.

Yuzuriha the older sister frowned. “Well… it’s not like we have to explain ourselves to kids.”

Iruka swallowed, “So there are more reasons to this…” He trailed off unsurely.

Tokusa sighed loudly, “Let us be frank here but do you know Atla who is in first year is the first of Shiomitsu clan child that entered academy since the second reign of Sandaime?”

Atla? He knew the kid since the young Shiomitsu stood out in crowd of children like a sore thumb with his lilac hair. He was also one of smallest kid in his class and Daikoku-sensei always boast about the boy’s talent and how he was ahead of his peers even when compared to other clan children. Not the next Uchiha Itachi but close enough. 

“We don’t want to offend anyone but honestly…  _ we _ don’t have a high opinion about academy curriculum.” Yuzuriha told him bluntly, and Iruka for one moment felt like someone just poured a bucket of ice water on his head. “Which is why we see no point attending academy… And so far as you can see we have no problem whatsoever to advance in rank without formal education here.”

Tokusa nodded sagely, “The quality of academy has been deteriorating since the end of Third Shinobi War obviously… and even geniuses that graduated early in academy are not impressed themselves. I believe teachers here said… ‘ _ they graduate early because we don’t have anything left to teach them’ _ and wash their hand off of them…”

“But… even so those students…“ Iruka trailed off. “I mean I don’t think all of them will advance to master Fuuinjutsu but rudimentary skill alone would be vital.” Especially medical fuuinjutsu they presented as an example, that could boost survival rate of their force.  

Yuzuriha shook his head, “Please don’t look down on us, we didn’t reject them applying to our class because of our low opinion on academy. We’re shinobi and seal master, it’s a must for us to look at problem objectively… while foundation of Fuuinjutsu is rudimentary your students can’t just join without necessary skill such as calligraphy & kanji, mathematic and basic knowledge on chakra nature.”

“We would be willing to waive off the last one because they’re third year students and it’s possible for us to teach them on the side together with on-going academy lesson.” Tokusa added. “But the first two are not an option… without steady hand to write it will take them too long to follow our lesson and the same with math.”

“We open this class with hope to get fresh candidates from outside… branching more styles to our fuuinjutsu…” Yuzuriha trailed off. “However… your students sans few clan children are all lagging behind in comparison of ours.”

“And… we’re so low in number we don’t have enough people to spare for teaching a class your size.” Tokusa pointed at classrooms around them. “One seal master could only keep their eyes limited number of children, even six children we pointed out can join the class this year will require two teachers in every class and after foundation year if they wish to continue… at minimum one master will responsible for two and that’s three master cutting their time for teaching.”

The male Shiomitsu sighed loudly. “We would love to teach more… I understand your feeling Iruka-sensei, but we seriously have no resource to accommodate so many kids at once.”

And with that they left Iruka who mulled over their words.

* * *

 

**Uchiha Compound (Main Family House)**

It was late and at last his father returned from his patrol. Itachi was getting restless but he let his father to take a bath and eating his late dinner. Then they got to business, better get this done as soon as possible.

Judging from thunderous expression his father wore, Itachi supposed they were on the same page in regards of Ieyasu’s proposal. On one hand it was exactly what they needed to get out of their rut, but in the other hand they couldn’t see it passing through their elders. As Naruto said and Itachi concurred, Ieyasu either didn’t get the memo or he didn’t care they were running a clan and not a monarchy.

“It’s a wonderful proposal.” His mother who was reading the scroll his father passed on after he was done. “It would do wonders for our image… more integration to Konoha at large… also a connection to the royal family!”

“Right.” His father concurred.

“Right.” He echoed.

“But—” Uchiha Mikoto paused before a gloomy cloud fell over the occupants of the room. Her voice was small when she continued, unbefitting of the Uchiha Matriarch but no one in the room cared. “How are we going to convince the elders… the clan to go through with this?”

Uchiha Fugaku was frowning, the crease of his aged face deepened. “Does Tokugawa-dono even know how a clan works?”

Surprisingly in Konoha, most large clan was managed with the same system even though they were vastly varied. Every clan was led by a main family with the head of said family as clan head, with assistance of clan elders. This system kept any one part from having too much power. Clan head in the first glance seemed to be most powerful position in a clan but elders always keeps a watchful eye on Fugaku’s decisions. Everything he did in the name of the clan had to be approved by the elders. They also had enough power to dismiss their clan head if they judged him unfit to lead the clan.

“We also wondered about the same thing, at first,” Itachi explained. “Then we realized it was  _ his _ way to assist us, but not making it easy, and teaching us something in the same time.”

“… And this lesson is not ‘make our elders eat their pride’ and put the good of the clan first, I suppose…” Fugaku said in driest tone he could muster, it was not hard to figure out. 

Itachi inclined his head respectfully, “Forgive me, tou-san, but frankly… if we can’t get our clansmen to set their foolish pride aside and  _ see _ there are more important matters… like future generation, our lives and so on. We would be stuck in a loop and nothing gets solved…”

“Itachi, you do realize… their anger towards Konoha is not completely misplaced.” Pride aside, it was justified to resent their isolation and mistreatment when it was based on unfounded accusation.

“I can’t deny that.” Itachi concurred, “However there are more important things…” He shook his head, “Let me phrase it differently… pride is important, without pride we will lose our sense of self as members of Uchiha clan. However… in my opinion pride is…”

Naruto’s and Shisui’s smiling face flashed in his mind, the feeling of contentment and acceptance whenever they traveled all over elemental country to explore historical sites, unveiling legacy of their ancestors. Accompanying Naruto in ward mission that was more like glorified D-rank plus dealing with pompous noble and occasionally lovesick princess. Then on their way home after mission or training, eating sweets in quaint tea house together.

_ ‘Oi… Itachi, isn’t that tea house seems to be your taste? They have dango, too!’ _

_ ‘I guess it’s fine for you to eat so much sweets, since you overwork your brain unlike… Shisui.’ _

_ ‘Naruto! You smartass!’ _

His little brother, Sasuke… who was totally clueless of what was happening in their clan, their village… Sasuke who looked at him with adoration and worship he didn’t deserve, and wanted nothing more than spending more time with him.

_ ‘Nii-san! Teach me shuriken technique! Please! Ne, ne… you promise!’ _

_ ‘Next time, again? Mou! Nii-san… you always says that!’ _

He couldn’t even give Sasuke that and yet his brother still adored him all the same.

“Pride is something we Uchiha can’t give up no matter what.” Itachi murmured softly, and then with firmer voice he elaborated. “Then my pride is my friends, my family… my village.”   

Their expression was unreadable as Itachi went on. “Because… even if in the end we fight for our superficial pride as Uchiha clan, if in the process we lost everything we hold dear… I don’t think it’s worth it.”

If for the pride of one Uchiha clan, Konoha was burned by flame of civil war…

“Is that what the clan truly wanted? Would resorting to  _ that _ give us what we wanted?” Itachi asked almost pleading.

For a long while neither Fugaku nor Mikoto answered, then the Uchiha matriarch slowly shook his head forlornly. “Kushina was my friend… my closest friend.” Kushina the whirlpool princess, short tempered, free spirited and loud. A friend who had dragged her all over Konoha to have fun, ruining her Uchiha façade and made her feel human. Kushina who seemed unafraid of anything, and yet she was openly fretting at the prospect of giving birth.

“Kushina and Minato died for Konoha, they even sacrificed their most precious treasure.” Their own son, the sun haired child she could only see behind glass wall in hospital eight and half years ago. How she regretted she never could hug that poor child for Kushina. “If there is anything this village did that made me want to burn it to the ground…”

Itachi tensed as he felt his mother’s killing intent. She was really angry and it scared him that his gentle mother was hiding this resentment to their village.

“It’s that… they dishonor Kushina’s… Minato’s sacrifice, they hurt an innocent child who deserved love from his parents! Parents who died for them.” His mother was wheezing now, it was rare of her to lose control of her emotion. She was always good in suppressing her emotion, even more than his father.

“But, Itachi… keep in mind, we’re a proud clan but we’re not suicidal either.” Mikoto’s self-control was back faster than they could blink. “We’re never a fool.”

Sometimes he forgot it was her mother who was the daughter of previous clan head, the heiress. “Yes, Kaa-san.”

“Our clansmen will  _ not _ accept this proposal just because your father and I order them to, this is a clan… we can’t make our  _ family _ do something they don’t want to do.” She told him in firm voice, and his heart sank that he had failed. ”However… you have not failed.” He must have looked ridiculous with wide eyes and gaping mouth, his parents looked amused. “You and your friends found us a new path for this clan to take. We might hesitate to walk on this path now but we can change…”

His father nodded, the clan head was not smiling but Itachi recognized the proud glint of approval in his eyes any day. “After all… I recall even  _ that  _ Madara changed his mind, Uchiha clan change their belief and join hands with Senju… that’s why we’re here, and the clan stays even though Madara left.”

He uncrossed his arms, sighing softly before adding. “So Itachi… give us some credit, will you?”

Mikoto smiled at her husband before turning her attention back to Itachi. “The clan has disappointed you greatly, I know we have… but I would like to think what your father said is one proof that we’re capable of change, and we will not follow Madara’s footstep.”

“I…” Itachi inhaled sharply. “I am so sorry…” He was sorry he lost faith in them, passing judgement as he please like the rest of the village to his clan.

“It’s fine, Itachi… everyone makes mistakes, that’s how we grow.” Mikoto came closer, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It will be a  _ very _ slow progress.” Mikoto admitted almost sheepishly. “But we will not fail you again, give us a chance… so you, Naruto-kun and Shisui-kun didn’t have to do everything by yourself.”

He nodded numbly, it felt like a world worth weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you… Kaa-san, Tou-san.”

“You’re welcome, Itachi.”

Their moment was interrupted by sound of footsteps, the owner tried to be stealthy but they were all experienced ninja. Mikoto sighed before turning towards the shoji door. “Sasuke, why you’re not in bed yet?”

Itachi could almost hear his brother’s flinch from behind the door that slowly slid open, and there he was. His adorable little brother who was trying to eavesdrop but they caught him before he could. Sasuke had not let go of the door, his eyes darted wildly from each of them. It was easy to see what was going inside Sasuke’s head, he was an open book to them.

“I am thirsty…” He said timidly.

Which was not a complete lie. Because Itachi could tell Sasuke wake up because of thirst, but that didn’t explain why he was in opposite direction to the kitchen from his bedroom. Obviously he overheard some voices, most likely when their mother’s momentary loss of self-control. Then he decided to investigate.

Sasuke was as bad as Naruto when it comes to keeping his nose out of trouble. Though Naruto was undoubtedly worse because trouble also come knocking at his door too.  

“After you get your drink from the kitchen, go back to your bed alright.” Their mother chided him.

He nodded. “Yes, Kaa-san.”

“Ah, Sasuke.” There was a strange glint on her eyes, and Sasuke stopped on his track. “We will have someone special to come over for dinner soon…” She had been informed of their official team first before Itachi told them about the proposal in hope the good news did wonder to her mood. “Be in your best behaviour, but I am sure you two will be good friends with each other.”

Sasuke blinked in confusion, his mother never really encouraged him to make friends like this. “Uhm… if you say so, Kaa-san.”

Itachi began to reconsider their dinner invitation. Considering Naruto’s mental age, her mother would be disappointed if she thought Naruto was Sasuke’s age in mind and body. It would be like a repeat of his childhood, one of few times he failed his parents spectacularly with screwing up that play date.

Maybe Naruto wouldn’t screw up as badly as he did.

Maybe…

* * *

 

**Back to the Tower**

“So what is Satori?”

Hakurei sighed, he must have thought Naruto was distracted enough to forget his first question before Hakurei divert the topic to bigger concern like the proposal and his engagement. “Can’t this wait, Naruto-sama?”

“I am giving you a chance to give me edited explanation.” He retorted smoothly. “I finished my paperwork, and tomorrow is my  _ rare  _ day off so if you can enlighten me… and if it’s something that will give me another headache on top of everything else, I want to get it over with sleep it off tomorrow.” He told Hakurei his perfect reasoning.

His oldest vassal sighed loudly, “Why did he tell you about Satori?”

Naruto cleared his throat, “Well… his words quote ‘so when  _ inevitably  _ you awaken it completely you’re not going straight to a Yamanaka or psychiatrist’ end quote.”

Any other day he would laugh at Hakure’s slack jawed expression, but now he was more concerned why this Satori get this kind of reaction. “Well… did you hear voices sometimes, Naruto-sama?”

“I am sane.” He insisted.

Hakurei sighed loudly. “Naruto-sama, contrary to popular belief… hearing voices in your head is not a sign of insanity.”

“So you’re not going to call a Yamanaka?”

“Of course not, and beside I don’t think Kurama-san will appreciate visitors… invited or not.” Hakurei pointed out. “So the voices?”

“My imagination most likely…” Naruto-sama waived it off dismissively. “Overactive imagination… happen to anyone when people around them gives you dose of death glare and you start imagining hearing voices when in reality no people talking, just scowling and muttering.”

Silence…

Hakurei’s eyes were wide in horror at the revelation. “Since when? How often?”

“On occasion… since forever?” How he could remember that when? “You know… kids.” It was not easy for him to retell his crappy childhood, why Hakurei asked again? “I don’t anymore…“ He was not sure if he really didn’t hear those anymore or he was so used to it like background noises. “Not until Ieyasu…”

The older seal master’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly and Naruto would have laughed if not for horrified expression Hakurei had. “How are you still sane, young master?”

Naruto was not impressed. “So at last you of all people ask me that question…” He retorted flatly. “Taking everything in stride, grin and bear it?”

**“Actually… you just shove all bad thoughts into deepest corner of your mind.”** Kurama pointed out.  **“And since, unlike Shukaku, I don’t fancy crazy host… which is why I am holding back the ill intention detector when you were small. Not out of good intention, mind you…”** He insisted.

Naruto snorted, Kurama always acted like he was personification of hate hell bent to destroy the world. Kurama was vengeful but the bijuu was above taking it on a human child. “Alright… so Hakurei, you never answer my question. Can you tell me now?”

Hakurei contemplated his choice and decided. “Give me time Naruto-sama… three, no, one month,” he proposed. “After one month, I promise I will tell you everything you want to know!” 

Naruto wanted to protest but at the look on Hakurei’s eyes, he changed his mind. Hakurei was his aide, the old seal master wouldn’t break a promise made to him. If he delayed telling Naruto, Hakurei should have a very good reason to do so. “Fine… one month.”

“Depends on the situation it could be less than that.” Hakurei continued, earning confused look from Naruto. “I need to prepare for something first… and Naruto-sama in this one month please avoid crowded places in the village. If you had to go to Hokage Tower or anywhere outside of our tower, please bring someone with you… Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun… even Sai-kun. Anyone available so you won’t be alone.” 

“Why?” Naruto hoped at least he would be given an answer why he couldn’t go anywhere alone. 

Hakurei inhaled softly, “If what Ieyasu-sama feared is right you will be in a delicate condition around this time. Until I finish my preparation, please be vigilant.” 

Naruto swallowed, any other time he would be offended getting treated like glass but Hakurei was seriously worried. “Is that all? Don’t go outside by myself, get it.” 

“Uhm… also decrease your use of Kagebunshin for strenuous task.” Hakurei added in firm tone. “Don’t strain your mind too much, but you can train your body as usual.” 

Which meant this month had to be stress free for him? 

“That would be hard.” He admitted. “But I will do my best?” 

Hakurei sighed, “Naruto-sama… why don’t you take another time off? I will personally instruct a new meditation procedure to you after you finish your business with Hiruzen.” 

Meditation? 

Naruto could help but sigh, “I start to feels like Shinobi on medical leave.” 

“Almost.” Hakurei admitted in amused tone. “At least you’re not in disinfectant smelling room, so count your blessing… young master.”

* * *

 

**Uchiha Compound (Uchiha Senbei)**

“Shisui-kun… I don’t mind having you coming over for dinner, in fact I would love to have you living with us here so you can always get proper meals…” Uchiha Uruchi, the wife of Uchiha Teyaki trailed off as cupping her cheek. “But…”

“But can you read our clan’s record tomorrow morning, Shisui?” Teyaki continued with a huff.

Uchiha Senbei was a secret library of their clan’s document, which because of their secret recipe on senbei didn’t make it odd for them to keep secret document. They were low priority record anyway, stuffs like family tree of Uchiha civilians, non-military assets and so on. In short civilian record that mattered little for military part of the clan.  

“We don’t mind you reading them as it’s just family tree.” On females of their clan that married outside. “Why you’re interested in those names anyway?”

Shisui stopped his perusing and pointed at one name, “Teyaki-jii! This Uchiha… named Mayumi.”

“She is older than you boy! Use suffix!” Teyaki chided the shushin expert, shaking his head exasperatedly.

It was a common name, but this was the only Mayumi with year of birth that fit the profile he had in mind. “I mean Mayumi-san… who is she married to?”

Teyaki pointed his finger at the mentioned name then drew a vertical line. “Here…”

“The name got smudge on it, shouldn’t you take a good care of it?!” Shisui moaned.

Uruchi clasped her hands together, “Mayumi? Oh… if Mayumi-chan she is married to…” She trailed off.

“Who?!” Shisui asked eagerly.

The old couple was very confused why Shisui was interested. Teyaki rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t remember, Mayumi you see… is one of those odd Uchiha like Obito-kun.”

Shisui cringed,  _ ‘Which mean most clan members prefer to forget they exist unless they shows talent like me.’ _

“In fact she was worse.” Teyaki shook his head, “Sometimes there are Uchiha without sharingan born in the clan, we never know why they pop up in random but Mayumi was one of them.”

He frowned, “How do we know she didn’t have it? I mean she could be a late bloomer.”

“It’s easy to tell…” Teyaki pointed at his own eyes, so dark to the point the pupil could be barely seen. “They have eyesight problem since birth, the color of their eyes are much lighter so their pupils show and any child they sired will have zero chance to develop sharingan…”

Shisui cringed, with that kind of trait no wonder it was easy to recognize those with dormant gene for Sharingan. No wonder the clan didn’t mistook late bloomer with those who really can’t develop their doujutsu. “Which is why our clan didn’t keep track of their descendants… but you really don’t know her spouse?”

Uruchi blushed, “I do remember a little, Mayumi’s husband is a very beautiful man. Everyone was so jealous of her and it’s hard to keep our eyes off of him.”

Teyaki cleared his throat loudly and his wife just laughed sheepishly. “You’re already dating me back then and yet you stared at that man too long for my liking.”

The female Uchiha huffed, “Well… I already have you but no one said I can’t look, it’s harmless.”

Shisui wished he was not here to hear Uruchi-baa fangirling in her youth. “Erm… so anyone remember his name?” It would be ridiculous they remembered he is pretty but not his name. At blank look he received he changed strategy. “How does this guy look like?”

Before Uruchi could launch her answer, Teyaki talked first. “Looks like a girl.”

“That better be not your green monster talking Teyaki-jii.” Shisui deadpanned.

“Most of the time he braided his hair and tied half up… and his hair is longer than most women.” He huffed. “And there was one time I saw the guy wearing his hair in twin pigtails for who knows why… it’s easier to remember his weirdness than his name even after all these years.”

Uruchi sighed dreamily, “Well… he has bright blond hair.” That was the striking trait, especially since all Uchiha had dominant dark hair.

Shisui froze, “Yamanaka’s pale blond?”

“No… more vivid blond.” Teyaki denied. “Like sunflower’s yellow I guess?”

“And the eye color?”

“Blue… also vivid shade like sky.” Teyaki nodded to himself. “I remember well because back then I couldn’t help but wonder with coloring like that how he can be stealthy in the forest? I mean Yamanaka mostly stays in command center in war…”

There was no mistake… it was most likely true to his wild guess and explained Ieyasu’s and Totsuka’s strange comment on their family relation. “Is Uchiha Mayumi married to someone called Muramasa?”

The look on their face as if a light bulb on their head was turned on said everything. “Ah… yes, how do you know that name? I already forgot his name as he is more famous by looks in our clan back then than his name.” And eccentricity, couldn’t forget that one after decades.  

Shisui swallowed, “Uhm… never mind that but  _ if _ Mayumi-san had a grandchild… isn’t that mean he or she is our cousin?”

Teyaki raised an eyebrow at the question and flipped the record open. “Hm… according to our family tree yes, the grandchild is your cousin… to be more exact third cousin to Itachi-kun and third cousin twice removed to you.”

That night after leaving Uchiha Senbei in a daze of zombie like state Shisui was torn between sneaking to Itachi’s bedroom or to Naruto’s. In the end he decided to head straight to his bed.

_ ‘Ha ha ha… we’re all related! Freaking noodle like family tree…”  _ Shisui stopped breathing for a second, his hitched voice muffled by his pillow.  _ ‘Wait a minute… if Naruto is Itachi’s third cousin, isn’t that make Fugaku-jii… Yondaime’s second cousin?!’ _

Fugaku-jii’s second cousin =Yondaime = Uchiha Hokage

“Awesome!”

* * *

 

**The next day…**

Keep his mind calm and emotion controlled. Naruto felt like Hakurei was trying to make him maintaining Buddha-like mind state. Though of course focusing on keeping serene mind was a dreadful task for an Uzumaki. Shisui was the biggest obstacle with his fidgeting, for some reason since they meet up in front of the Tower the Uchiha looked like he wanted to say something. 

Something surprising most likely if his excited chakra was anything to go by. Though for some reason he had not managed to utter a complete sentence since then. 

Itachi once again mentioned about their dinner plan with his family, which most likely would be sometime around next week because only then they were had free time to go. 

“I see you have finished your paperwork in order.” The Hokage commented, flipping through the papers. He didn’t fail to note the one who was filling in their team’s specification was Naruto. It was a surprise the team was specified as heavy combat team first and foremost but also noted they had required skill for tracking & capture -because of Shisui’s sensorY skill and Naruto’s chains and espionage. 

Though Hakurei who was writing their recommendation letter also wrote in fine letter,  _ ‘Don’t believe anything they modestly wrote on themselves, they’re an all rounder team.’  _

All rounder, a team with adequate skills in every field of mission and better at selected fields. His students had been such team with their diverse skills.

_ ‘They lean more on information gathering and heavy combat, if you don’t have any clue yet.’ _

The irony was… this team from their mission record was good at escort mission. Though if the latest case of ‘making a deal behind his back’ they concocted was anything to go by, information gathering and infiltration they were so good at was mostly done for their own purpose.

Perhaps…

“So how is Kiba no Kuni the last time you visit them, Naruto-kun?” He asked in light hearted tone on country led by Daimyou who recently requested Naruto’s expertise in ward seal.

Naruto-kun blinked at him owlishly. “Pretty tense considering their trades with Tsume no Kuni is not doing so well.”

“Why not so well?”

“Kado-dono thinks the tax for exporting leather is too expensive.” Naruto shrugged, “There is an idea of political marriage circulating around, but the prince of Tsume is too young and princess of Kiba is too old.”

The Hokage stared at him in disbelief. “How about Hachi no Kuni then? I heard it’s a very lovely country but they’re not doing so good with their neighbours.”

Naruto laughed at that, waving his hand in negative. “Ah… Not all, their princess is a good friend with court ladies and consorts from Haku no Kuni. That country is much bigger and with considerable influence too… they invited Lady Mitsu to their Spring Banquet just last month so since then the country of Northwest part of continent has been pretty cozy…” He chirped happily.

“And Sanma no Kuni?”

At the mentioned name Naruto frowned, “Erm… there is an explosion of salmon population this year for some reason so it’s unbelievably cheap.”

The Sarutobi inhaled deeply. “Naruto-kun… how do you remember that?”

He smiled sheepishly at that. “Erm… since we finish our mission faster than expected we have binge eating in Sanma no Kuni… there is a nice Ossan treating us on boat with his best sashimi. Cut straight after he caught it.”

“It’s really good!” Shisui nodded eagerly.

He was glad they enjoyed their mission, but it seemed half of the time their mission turned to culinary vacation. “Never mind the fish… how do you know about the political situation in those countries? You spend less than a few days there to finish your work…” And Naruto-kun was faster than most sealing master.

The blond looked very confused, “How? Erm… they told me of course.”

“Who?”

“Kado-dono from Kiba no Kuni himself… and Lady Mitsu from Hachi no Kuni of course.” He informed the Hokage. “They seem to think since we’re young they should treat us to tea and sweets…” Almost all nobles did the same. “We have a nice chat like usual… and it’s interesting…”

Like usual? “Naruto-kun… usually nobles, especially royalty didn’t treat Shinobi sweets and talk about politics with them.” Young or not, Naruto was a shinobi.

Naruto looked very confused. “Hm? But it’s no different than telling people how your days going.”

Silence…

Shisui raised his hand, “Hokage-sama… in case you have not noticed yet, Naruto for some reason have people left and right spilling their life story to him.”

Naruto glared at the shushin expert, “Don’t make me sounds like a disease! Sympathetic ear go a long way you know.”

“A long way to get blackmail material?”

“Earning clients’ trust of course! Baka.” Naruto huffed before turning his attention back to their Hokage. “Ah, my apologies about that, Hokage-sama… is there anything else?”

The Hokage shook his head mirthfully, “Well, I believe Hakurei said you guys will surprise me this Friday.”

As one the three young shinobi blinked owlishly at him before sharing speaking look. “Ah… I think Hakurei-shishou is talking about our join training with  _ everyone _ .”

Now it was the Hokage’s turn to blink, “Everyone?”

“Hai! Since Hokage-sama will be there to watch, we will make sure to perform our best.” He promised, beaming at him.

* * *

 

**On the way back to Tower…**

“Can we avoid crowded places?” Naruto requested and vaguely gestured towards a long detour towards the tower.

Itachi eyed his friend with worry. “Why so many precautions all of a sudden?” He asked warily. “You’re not sick, are you?”

Naruto shook his head, “I don’t think so… I don’t feel any different and Kurama will tell me if there is something wrong with my body.” He rolled his eyes towards Itachi who was clearing his throat again. “Itachi, are you really alright?”

“Don’t exaggerate…” Itachi sighed. “It’s nothing… I went to hospital already, they said I am not feeling well because my last two missions are in places with different climate and my body didn’t react well to the drastic change…“

Shisui frowned, “You’re under the weather because of bad weather?”

“Glad to know you still attempt to make a pun out of my misery, Shisui.” Itachi deadpanned.

Naruto glanced at the two Uchiha, Shisui was pouting at Itachi who ignored the pout like a pro. For some reason he had been feeling unwell, not in health but it felt like something was going down soon.

**The boy**

**Boy**

**Ba**

**Ke… Mono!**

His breath hitched sharply and without warning his seal of flight sparked to life and he jumped high thirty feet higher than intended. He yelped when a particularly strong wind blew over him and he crashed down the trees once the seal was off, and he almost face plant to the ground before he stopped himself from sliding further down the trees.

“Haa ah… haa…”

“Naruto!”

“What come over you all of a sudden?!”

Itachi and Shisui shunshined to his side, equally shocked with what just happened. “Did you lose control of Hikou no Fūin just now?” Itachi asked, checking his injury which only consisted of scratches.

Naruto shook his head. “I don’t get what come over me either… suddenly it feels like there is something.” Something was going to attack him from direction of gathering villagers below that caught sight of him roof-hopping. “I was spacing out so my mind was unfocused and then I felt like I have to get away from something…” He shuddered.

Shisui frowned, “We don’t feel anything dangerous before you suddenly take off like that, and you got blown away by wind to boot!”

Naruto nodded numbly. “Uhm yes… which mean I should improve on control for this seal soon.” That was too close for his liking. “And I don’t think there is anything dangerous that spook me either, it’s just…”

“What do you feel exactly?” Itachi asked.

“Like…” He trailed off, searching for a way to describe the sensation. “Like that one time Shisui put his popsicle inside my shirt from behind.”

Shisui snickered, “How is that dangerous?”

“It’s not but it’s unpleasant…” Then Naruto moved his hand to his back as if trying to scratch an itch he couldn’t reach. “And somehow whatever it is also left unpleasant feeling after most of it passed, like how cold, sticky and itchy melting sweet treats is on my back…”

“You don’t make any sense.” Shisui pointed out.

“I noticed.” Naruto deadpanned. “But I don’t want to think about it… Hakurei made me swear I have to be stress free for one month!”

“That’s impossible.” Shisui told him mercilessly.

Naruto growled, “Why not?”

“Because to you and Itachi, stress seems to be part of your life and at this point it seems neither of you even notice the stress… and you don’t know how to relax.”

In that moment Naruto and Itachi had one thought,  _ ‘Why it’s so annoying when Shisui is so right about us?’ _

“I do know how to relax! With taking care of my plants!” Naruto protested.

“So how is that seal to increase the rate of decomposing organic matter going?”

“Good! I think-“ Naruto stopped himself.

Damn, since when Shisui was so good at proving his point?! At his exasperation to Shisui, Naruto almost forgot about the nagging concern of something he didn’t know spooking him in bright daylight in the middle of their village.

* * *

 

**Sealing Tower (Private Training Ground 03)**

The sealing tower refer to Sealing Division HQ on the center of Uzumaki refugees’s land, almost an autonomous area like clan compound. Technically Sandaime as Hokage had a lot of say in this land, but in practice…

“Please wait for a moment Hokage-sama, we shall inform Hakurei-sama of your arrival.” One of Hakurei’s disciple and clansmen, a young boy named Tokusa informed him. 

It was almost ridiculous that he couldn’t enter a facility that belonged to Konoha as he pleased. “Very well, Tokusa-kun.”  He watched the boy left but he didn’t miss two sealing master discreetly keeping watch of him from the shadow. Seeing this he couldn’t help but wonder if it was right for Shodaime and Nidaime to give Mito-sama so much leeway with her vassals.

Then again back then after the first war, Uzumaki clan was greatly disappointed by the result of Hashirama’s dream and refused to be absorbed to Konoha force. Especially since Shodaime’s gift was abused by other villages as tool of war, on top of that their greatest art was misused in the process. So Nidaime scrambled to make amends and laid down autonomous right for Mito’s sealing division, in fear his sister in law would abandon Konoha.  

Then again perhaps it was for the best, since with Naruto here even Danzou couldn’t go behind his back to make move against their jinchuuriki. He could try but as proven few months ago, Danzou would suffer greatly if he dared to cross Hakurei.

Speaking of Hakurei…

The old seal master raised one calloused hand and unrepentantly accused him in the same sentence as his greeting. “Yo! Hiruzen, you’re late.”

A vein popped on his temple, did Hakurei just treat him like he was chronically late Kakashi? For a moment he was tempted to tell ridiculous excuse just to see how it felt to be on the giving end but decided against Hakurei it wouldn’t end on smug satisfaction on his part. “You didn’t tell me the exact time! So I come as soon as I finish my work!”

Hakurei turned around, “At any rate they’re using the northeast part of training ground...” He pointed at rising pillar of smoke, before beckoning him to follow.   

Now the blasted Shiomitsu ignored him! One of these days he would run out of patience for Hakurei and joined his teammates in their most sincere effort to end the bastard. Wait, a pillar of smoke?!

“Oh calm down, you know us… something blowing up is part of our daily life.” Hakurei droned on.

Now he remembered why Shodaime and Tobirama-sensei decided to place the tower far away from general population of Konoha. “That’s only for you, seal masters of Uzushio!” It was also why they were leading in this art in comparison of other village, they were as tough as cockroach.  

Again, his comment was ignored by Hakurei who stopped in front of a clearing, right before a dense forest typical in Konoha. In the clearing there was around twenty seal masters –all dressed in white haori and blue hakama- looked put off with X mark ink in their person. They were groaning and taking notes rapidly.

“Ah… so you’re out already hm? Iwa-san?”

Hiruzen recognized Iwafune Tenkei, one of few war veterans of Sealing Tower. Tenkei was a tall, lightly tanned man with chin-length, wavy, dark brown hair. He was drinking a can of beer and gave off lazy impression with his body language.

“Iwafune…” A shinobi from Shikaku’s generation and a half Nara, he didn’t look like one but he inherited their lazy disposition. “You’re drinking at noon, in presence of young shinobi.”

He raised his can of beer in salute. “Oh come one Hokage-sama, let this old Iwa to have his fun.” He didn’t look bothered by X mark that covered half of his face. “I lasted exactly one hour and was gracefully taken out of the game.”

Exactly one hour meant he was purposely timing the moment. “What game?” He asked.

At that moment Tokusa and Shin tumbled out of the forest, Tokusa had his X mark on neck while Shin had his in forehead. “It was so close!” Shin moaned.

Tokusa sighed loudly, “And here I thought I can catch Shisui at least today!”

“At least today he didn’t paint your face black like last time.” Shin pointed out with a grin.

The Shiomitsu snarled, “The jerk tried!”

* * *

 

**Somewhere in training ground…**

Stealth was a very important part as Fuuinjutsu practitioner, because their art was all about unpredictability and swift execution. So since young age all of them were taught stealth first thing before any shinobi arts in disguise of game. Hide and seek was a favorite pastime for children of the tower, and they prided themselves in art of stealth right after art of sealing.

That skill didn’t help them to hide from Naruto-sama and his Uchiha teammates though. Sure the first times they played this game they could get upperhand in hide and seek with the Uzumaki and Uchiha in their backyard training ground. However as time passed Naruto-sama was getting creative and the Uchihas knew the terrain well enough so they were on equal ground.

By now over ten three man cells from sealing division couldn’t catch them in less than three hours, and most of the time after three hours they won the game. The worst part was Naruto-sama’s creativity involved prank themed seal, they were awful.

So even though Yuzuriha loved Naruto-sama more than life itself, nothing would stop her from suffocating him with her scarf for using _Gomen Jimen no Fuuin_ -improved version that practically pulled people’s limbs when the target enter certain range- to glue her hands and left leg to tree branches. She looked ridiculous, like a helpless monkey.

“Do you need assistance, Yuzuriha-san?” Sai asked as he appeared in swirl of ink, sitting on the branch her hand was glued to.

The Shiomitsu sighed, “Yes… since my right hand is glued on the back and my left is on a branch as thick as my waist… I can’t get out of this myself.” She was already out of the game, since now her right arm bear X mark. “And no honorific… we’re family, Sai.”

Sai nodded and cut the branches with his kodachi he got from Shiomitsu clan to replace his ROOT tanto. “Hai.”

“Where is Shin?” Yuzuriha asked as she tried and failed to pull the branch off of her hand.

“We got separated by Naruto-sama’s ingenious mud explosion.” Sai explained.

Yuzuriha just noticed there was caked mud on Sai’s ebony hair. “So they got you too, huh.”

“Hai.” Then he pointed at his cheek, “But I am lucky enough it’s Itachi-san who marked me, after all he has the smallest brush.”

She nodded, “Me too… Some guys aren’t so lucky, that Shisui painted their face black with his three shaku brush.” She really had to get her revenge on the next game, Naruto-sama turned her to a demented tree like one from academy student’s drama props.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

“Time’s up.” Yuzuriha grumbled, “Have I told you, I hate that alarm so much?”

Sai nodded, “For the last three biweekly games we have with Naruto-sama’s team,  it sounds of our defeat.”

“I swear, if that Shisui gloat again I will-” She clamped her mouth shut when she saw Sai pulling his note out. “No Sai, I can’t impart any wisdom in social interaction to you… and no, don’t go looking for instructional book in relationship again. You’re going to scar Shin and Tokusa’s already frail mental permanently at this rate.”

Sai nodded and put his note away.

* * *

Shisui was gloating again and it was nothing unusual. Itachi was again looking at Iwafune forlornly, disappointed that once again the war veteran pulled one over them. If only the half Nara bothered to try, they wouldn’t win the game easily.

“Next time I will put some effort.” Iwa-san chortled light heartedly. “Promise!”

Itachi frowned, “That’s what you always said, Iwa-san.”

Shisui grinned, “Itachi, this is karma.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Just take what we can get… Shisui, don’t tease Itachi. And Itachi… you know Iwa-san.”

“Eloquent as ever young master!” That retort earned him a choke hold from smiling Hakurei. “Eek!”

Hakurei grinned, “My… Iwafune-kun, aren’t you getting braver nowadays? Hm?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Iwafune who was flailing his arms in surrender,  _ ‘Iwafune-san…’ _ the previous war had not been kind to him, which was why someone who was as brilliant as Nara Shikaku was reduced to this cynical man who didn’t take life seriously anymore.  _ ‘This is why war-‘ _ His thought halted when he saw Sandaime walking towards them with thoughtful look.

“Sandaime-sama…”

Judging from his slight wince the Hokage still hoped Naruto would still call him Jii-chan fondly. “Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun… I am impressed you can outwit so many shinobi in less than three hours.” Though looking at young Yuzuriha and Sai, they also got pranked in the process.

Naruto and Shisui beamed happily, while Itachi just smiled at the compliment. “Thank you Hokage-sama.”

He was so lucky Homura and Koharu didn’t come with him or he would never hear the end of it. He knew he wasted Naruto-kun’s team’s potential on C rank mission, and he would rectify that as soon as he could. He didn’t want Minato’s son to run off behind his back again, who knows what he would got himself into next time.

“I watched the recording as I was late because someone didn’t tell me when this hunt began.” He shot Hakurei a glare. “Should I put you down as infiltration and espionage team or perhaps… tracking and capture?”

They shared a speaking look before Naruto spoke. “Actually.” So unanimously Naruto was the spokesperson of the team?   

“I think we’re more of heavy combat team… we are pretty good at stealth but we’re better at destroying things.” The irony of pacifist team to be so good at destroying things.

Hakurei disagreed, “To be more exact you guys are all-rounder team.”

Sandaime’s eyes softened, so they were not aware. Knowing them, they strived to train themselves to be able to deal with various kind of battle scenario. An all-rounder team is a team that specialized in wide range of field because the team members’ diversity of skills and since his own team there was no all-rounder team in Konoha.  Yondaime’s team was close but war tore the team apart before they could get far. While he knew these three young shinobi were prodigies, two Uchihas in one team should mean more overlapped skills and even a presence of seal master won’t be enough for the team to have diverse enough skill.

“We are?” Shisui blinked owlishly.

Judging from puzzled and skeptical look on Naruto and Itachi, they weren’t sure either.

“They’re getting there…” Hakurei elaborated, “Though perhaps in some area like interrogation they would still rely on seals and genjutsu instead of psychological game at this point… but trust me I will not let you three become a jack of all trades team. It would be a huge waste of potential.”

Sandaime was amused, “I don’t remember assigning you as their sensei.”

“I am already their unofficial sensei…” Hakurei retorted. “Beside… Shisui-kun makes it his life mission to get a drop on me before I croaked. He is pretty determined to get a win on me on Taijutsu or kenjutsu spar.”

Shisui nodded enthusiastically, “And don’t forget it.”

Itachi and Naruto rolled his eyes, “I believe you lost quite a number of brain cells after Hakurei hit you with the hilt of his sword in last spar.” Of course he and Itachi had not win against Hakurei yet either in pure taijutsu and kenjutsu spar.

“It’s fine I have a lot of brain cells and don’t deny that.” Shisui retorted.

“We’re in front of Hokage-sama, behave.”

Their banter was refreshing, they acted their age. “It’s fine… Itachi-kun, I don’t mind a little bickering. My genin team was worse.”

The look they exchanged with each other said they couldn’t tell he was complimenting or insulting them. The Hokage sweat-dropped,  _ ‘Well, considering who my students are it could be taken both ways.’ _

“Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun… Shisui-kun.” They straightened their back in unison, their stance alert and ready. “I have a proposition for you.”

He just hoped he won’t regret this, for once he desperately hoped he would be right this time.

* * *

 

**Tokijikuin**

The ROOT agent made his way through Tokijikuin, the timeless palace. He was not walking through the dimly lighted and luxurious hallways, but upside down with his feet glued on the ceiling. Sharp eyes hidden beneath white ivory mask assessed the surroundings, the experienced gaze analyzing every detail that could help or hinder his assignment.  He scanned the perimeter of the hallway that connected to his target’s bedroom he was about to infiltrate. No one was in sight and he didn’t sense any strong chakra nearby.

Stealthily, he slipped into the ceiling right on top of the bedroom, the briefing that his master had given him still fresh in his mind.

_ Kyuubi no Jinchuuriki has made contact with Tokugawa Ieyasu, this can’t be good for our village. Hokage have been too soft with the jinchuuriki and now the boy is acting on his own self-interest. No matter what transpire between the jinchuuriki and Tokugawa Ieyasu, we can’t let anyone to control the jinchuuriki. Tokugawa Ieyasu is a strong and cunning man but he is a dangerous existence to Konoha, we have let him live for too long. _

_ Kill him, and make sure nothing can connect this to Konoha. _

He fingered the poisoned senbon on his holster; it had been coated with deadly poison native to Kirigakure. Because the brewing civil war there plus increasing number of missing nin hailed from said hidden village, this assassination won’t be traced back to Konoha or ROOT. He nodded his head decisively to himself, and dropped from the ceiling. He walked toward the sleeping body on the bed and with a senbon in hand swiftly-

“Urk-“

Something firm and burning wrapped around his neck swiftly and pulled him backward. His feet digging on the tatami mat next to the lord’s bed. The lord opened his eyes and rose from sleep, looking nothing like a man who just awakened from sleep by assassination attempt. He looked very alert as his sharp eyes met his –almost- killer, and threw his blanket off of him in dramatic fashion.

“It’s been a while since someone tried to assassinate me.” He said in nonchalant manner as if he was talking about the weather “So who is it? Kaminari no Kuni’s daimyou again?” He snorted, “Or… someone closer?”

The failed assassin gurgled as the whip strangling him lit up again, “Argh!”

“Izumo.” Ieyasu warned his guard. “I want him to live long enough to answer me.”

His captor, recently revealed as Izumo beamed at his master. “Maa~ Don’t worry!”

He was a man in his late twenties, tall and slim young man with short blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing high collared white shirt with open zip, revealing his tattooed collar bone. A black scarf wrapped over it and around his shoulders, combined with black jacket with upturned collar and black pants.

“If this guy is what we suspect.” His speech had accent that different than one commonly known in Hi no Kuni. “He is not gonna die from this…”

Gurgling noise because of suffocation and pain were all the captured agent could emit. The whip loosened but a gloved hand grabbed his jaw and forces his mouth to open. Hardened agent or not having a fingertip with small fire tongue on your mouth was an unfamiliar situation, and he stayed rooted in his spot. “Yep! There is it… Iwazaru no Fuuin~”

“Alright where did I put it…” Tokugawa Ieyasu murmured as he idly took something out of his sleeve pocket, a wooden tag the size of his palm with a seal carved on it. The seal was shaped like octagram with characters for patience and punishment meshed to form a jar in the middle. Channeling a small amount of chakra so the seal glowed briefly, and the effect was immediate.

The prisoner let out a silent scream, body tense before trembling uncontrollably.

“That confirms it.” Izumo hummed, as he inclined his head to the side where another shinobi emerged from the shadow. “Ne… Tatara?”

Totsuka Tatara beamed, “Hai~ while his warning is not necessary.” In a sense they could handle ROOT agents sent to assassinate their master. “It’s nice to know who we have to watch out and it saves us time to search his body.”

Izumo snickered as he continued his work, “And another standard procedure of theirs… erm… two suicide pills on the back of their teeth, what else?” He plucked the mentioned pill using  tweezer and tossed it to a sample case.

The helpless assassin was numb all over as Totsuka skipped forward, and grabbed his left leg, making a small tear on the black pants. “Underneath false skin on left thigh, there is another tracking seal.” He made a quick work on it and the tracking seal came off.

Ieyasu yawned, “Can’t you guys do this somewhere else?” He sounded bored. “I need my sleep.”

Kusanagi Izumo snickered, “Maa~ Ieyasu-sama, be patient! We have to do this quickly after all!” His hands blurred to a series of seal. “ **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** !”       

A barn owl appeared in a burst of chakra smoke, it has different colored eyes, one red and another blue. The owl inclined its head towards its summoner.  **“Izumo-sama… what can I do for you tonight?”**

“Mukuro, take that fake skin off of Tatara’s hand and dispose of it somewhere.” Izumo ordered.

The owl took the offered skin like sheet with its beak, “Somewhere between capitol to our border…” Tatara trailed off; eyeing the senbon he took from the ROOT shinobi. His eyes narrowed at the clear liquid dripped from the tip, ghosting his hand over the fume and brought it close to his nostril. “To water country… “

Izumo smirked, “You heard him Mukuro, bring that around random forest by Nami no Kuni or in that general direction~” Tatara decided. “Shred it to pieces afterward…”

The summon bobbed his head and flew out of the room.

Watching Izumo’s summon flying away, Tatara sighed loudly. “Well! That’s one thing down, so what we’re going to do with tongue tied hostage?”

“Maa~ I am sure as member of HOMRA we’re creative enough to get around an old seal like this!” Izumo nodded to himself.

Tatara beamed, “I am not sure about Yata-kun’s creativity though… his creative idea to get info involves beating it out of them with his staff.”

“Nah~ I am not going to trust Yata-kun in  _ delicate _ matter, let’s just make use of your fine control of Katon to cut his digits one by one with knife made of flame?” He suggested. “It would be hygienic because there would be less blood and less chance of infection!”

Ieyasu in the background rolled his eyes, “How is that delicate? Or hygienic?”

The brunette was thoughtful at the suggestion, “Mahiro’s spider would be more effective!” Tatara suggested. “I mean… I am sure it would be faster to get a prisoner to crack down if they have giant spider on their lap gnawing their digits with poisonous fang.”   

“And then they would be too dead to answer you.” Ieyasu pointed out.

“We can just make use of Iwazaru no Fuuin if we don’t want to waste energy… I suppose.” Izumo considered that option.

Both of them pointedly ignore paling and shaking ROOT agent between them.

Ieyasu yawned again as he settled back to his futon. “I don’t care what you do… discuss the gore detail somewhere else, I need my sleep.”

Tatara beamed, “Of course you do Ieyasu-sama.”

Then as silent as they could, both shinobi dragged their  _ prize _ out of the bedroom.  

* * *

 

**Konoha (Sealing Tower)**

“A not so little birdie came and inform me that just last night Danzo sent an assassin to Ieyasu-jii,  _ oh joy~” _ Naruto snorted, tossing the letter towards Shisui who caught it expertly.

Shisui scoffed, “Damn… HOMRA is a crazy group.” Subduing a ROOT agent was no small feat if they could do it in swift and efficient manner. ROOT didn’t survive with sloppy agent, they were slippery like Orochimaru. He and his team secretly theorized at some point Orochimaru was part of ROOT, he seemed like the type who would be at home in Danzo’s secret group.  

Itachi took the letter Shisui passed to him and frowned. “It seems Danzo is unhappy with you.” The Uchiha heir inhaled softly then exhaled a small fireball to burn the letter to crisp.

Naruto whistled at the display of Katon masterful control from Itachi, apparently Itachi had been asking tips from Totsuka Tatara.

“Ha ha ha-“ He let out exaggerated mocking laughter, “When Danzo is ever pleased with anything about me? When I was an untrained child with wasted official, I was a shame… when I was a fuuinjutsu student under Aizen, I was  _ still _ a shame with flight risk and now after I made contract with Ieyasu-jii… I  _ am _ a threat.”

The shushin expert whistled, “Well, to be fair he is not pleased with Konoha… his own village in general.” Shisui stepped away when he saw the vine on his left wiggled from the corner of his eyes.

Seriously, Naruto’s little garden was getting livelier  _ and _ creepier lately. He had been in Forest of Dead to train, so that was saying something if plants in not so modest greenhouse could creep him out. He bit back a yelp when the vine almost grabbed his hand, and Naruto as usual was oblivious of how dangerous his beloved plants was becoming. At this point he had given up to convince Naruto that his beloved plants weren’t just liveliest and happiest greens in Konoha.

“He is not pleased with  _ us _ especially not just you, I am almost afraid he is going to throttle Sandaime when we’re officially a team.” On a side note Itachi somehow accepted the dangerous- _ most likely in perverted way _ \- plants as adorable. Then again Shisui was sure Itachi was never harassed by Naruto’s plants like him.

Gah! Which leaves or vine touched his ass again?!

Itachi snorted, pointedly ignoring Shisui’s glaring at Naruto’s innocent greens. “Because approving us as an official team is the same as giving express permission for alliance between Uzumaki and Uchiha clan.”

“Or Konoha elders in general just feels whatever we’re doing together rub them in the wrong way.” Shisui pointed out before regretting how that statement sounded like. “I mean…come on! How long has it been since Madara’s era again, and no offense to your clan or Senju…” He turned to Naruto. “Considering the number of Konoha residents in your clan… Uchiha is more like founding clan than Senju, all of us are still here while… the Senjus…”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Yes, I know… never mind.” He craned his neck at Shisui and Itachi. “So… the about tablet under this Naka Shrine is perhaps what we’re looking for?”

Shisui nodded, “Yep… just recently we’re allowed to join official clan meeting.”

He blond blinked at that, confused at how Shisui phrased it. “Official… what do you mean by that.”

“As you know both Itachi and I were…” He coughed, “Recommended to ANBU with Sandaime’s and Danzo’s approval.”

“But it’s only recently we’re full pledged member of a team and that means we’re adults in the eyes of the clan wohoo~”

Naruto gave him an unimpressed look, Itachi just sighed. “Previously while we’re allowed to join clan’s meeting… it’s held in Naka shrine, the one we recently allowed access is the one under Naka Shrine. It’s a hidden room…”

If they were not so close and had bigger concern, Naruto would be worried for his friends spilling their clan’s secret. “So… the tablet bothers you somehow Itachi?”

The Uchiha heir nodded, “It’s just a hunch but… judging from the style of writing carved on the tablet, it’s most likely even older than ones we have come across before.” He had only seen it from a distance though but Uchiha always had good vision, better than most.

“It’s a very small tablet though.” Shisui gestured with his hands, giving Naruto a rough size of the tablet. “About this big…”

Naruto narrowed his eyes, “That’s quite small.” By standard of tablets they had found all over elemental country so far. “But if you think it’s older than what we usually found… doesn’t that mean your clan went through trouble to bring a tablet along with them to Konoha after the end of feuding clan’s era?”

Itachi cupped his chin, frowning. “That’s right… from what we found in Uchiha’s old hideout, most tablet were left behind so why only that one?”

“So, it’s not a historical record perhaps?” Shisui guessed.

Naruto fidgeted, “I would love to see it myself!”

“Sorry Naruto, Uchiha clan only.”

Shisui opened his mouth to say something but nothing came up.  _ ‘Why oh why I can’t find the right time to break the news?!’ _ Then again was there any point telling Naruto considering the Uzumaki already knew they were related  _ somewhere _ up their family tree?

Itachi and Naruto noticed Shisui had been beside himself over something, and so far he kept at a loss of how to say it. They would have asked days ago but when it comes to Shisui, it would be better to let the shushin expert to stew over it as long as he needed. Beside… it couldn’t be anything important if Shisui kept snickering about it from time to time.

“Speaking of which… we have to delay the dinner again this week.” Itachi pointed out forlornly.

Naruto shrugged, “That’s what happen when all of us have tight schedule… but I am we have the same day off after the next mission.”

“It’s a day before your birthday.” Shisui returned from his lala land. “Do you think we can return before the big day?” They were planning to sneak to Hokage’s grave on said day for Naruto’s sake.

“Saa~” Naruto shrugged. “The day didn’t matter really, everyone is hyped up to celebrate it in October anyway, whenever the date is…”

The people of tower were happy as long as they could celebrate his birthday, even not on the exact day. It was the thought that count, with his mental age he didn’t really fixated on exact day.  

“It surprised me Hokage-sama suggested it though. He was against giving you anything above C rank before!”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Technically I have gone to a couple of B to A rank missions… and a number of C rank missions we went were not really C rank.”

“To be fair you’re the one who accepted the invitation from Tori’s Daimyou to watch that monk’s magic show.” Shisui pointed out.

“And you were the one who can’t keep his mouth shut, you just have to shout he is a fake priest in front of those nobles when you detected his genjutsu.” Naruto retorted back.

Itachi shrugged, “But I believe we’re the one who can’t leave conflict alone and decide to go after that wandering nin group when they tried to escape.” He pointed out loftily. “Thankfully we manage to subdue all of them and even though we killed their leader, they’re willing to compromise and swore allegiance to Tori no Kuni.”

“I am not sure it’s because of your diplomatic skill, or we beat them up too much or they’re smitten by twin prince-princess of Tori no Kuni.” Shisui snickered, “Toki is a cutie.” He mused before cursing up a storm when he felt something touching his bottom again.

Naruto harrumphed, “Well, but that escort mission to Ginga no Kuni is almost a bust thanks to you!”

The trip by ship through that river almost became hell because he was hoodwinked by a bandit, the shame! “How should I know that mushroom is dangerous and a hazard?!”

“You’re lucky we use storage scroll to keep our food, but the Toyoshi-sama was unhappy with what the mushroom did to his ship.” Itachi said.

Shisui snarled, “Like you never get us in trouble, remember that one Kunoichi you beat in friendly spar? You should have asked  _ first  _ where did she come from!”

“To be fair Kunoichi from Nadeshiko village that time didn’t wear her hitai-ate.” Naruto pointed out. “And while Itachi looks older than his age, he is still thirteen. She is being unreasonable… and I think she is after Itachi in the first place.”

Itachi shuddered, “Please don’t remind me… and why we’re recalling missions that went downhill again?”

“You mean FUBAR?” Shisui corrected as he tried to strangle an affectionate willow tree that tried hug him. His teammates were blissfully unaware of the harassment.

Naruto sighed loudly, “Right… let’s drop it, we’re going to be depressed over it.” He hummed, “Still I didn’t expect our next mission is not quite a mission just for us as official team.”

“Or why Hokage-sama allows it at all.” Itachi added.

“I know you can handle it but… I am uneasy with this change of attitude.”

The jinchuuriki narrowed his eyes. “Well… as his surrogate grandson I will say he is worried I will get myself in danger he didn’t know so it’s better he give me what I want and well protected. As one of Konoha’s shinobi I say… he is keeping me under tighter control or someone like Danzo or Ieyasu-jii will snatch me away.”

Itachi and Shisui shared a look, neither liked Naruto’s wild guess but they knew it made sense.

“Maa… at least he gave us plenty of times to prepare.”  

Naruto took a moment to mule about their situation before cracking one eye open at Shisui. “Oi Shisui, what are you doing with Yana-chan?”

“Gee, what do you think?” If there was still something very childlike about Naruto, he still named his plants,  _ all _ of them had names and he remembered them by heart.  

“You’re hugging her?” Naruto hazarded a guess. 

“No, it’s the other way around.” He corrected waspishly.

* * *

 

**Five days later…**

“Another new recruit?” ANBU operative who was in the middle of putting his gear wondered out loud, pulling the gray flak jacket over his head. “But we just get Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun few weeks ago, so our team is already full.” ANBU squad typically consist of two four man cells after all. 

His silver haired senior waved his hand in negative, “Not exactly a new recruit… I believe you know that Sealing Division just open up a chance for regular force to receive formal training in sealing arts. They also inducted combat ready members from that division to regular force… and the result is astonishing.” 

One of their squad members chimed in, “Oh, I went on a mission with one of their high rank member… they’re really handy and efficient to have around as teammates.” 

“How so?” 

“It’s protection mission for important noble, with a fuuinjutsu barrier erected 24/7 we can eliminate threats with ease without worrying our client would get killed if we take our eyes off of them for one second.” He explained. 

Second in command of Ro squad hummed, “Hoo… so this time?” 

The captain of ANBU squad Ro, Hatake Kakashi nodded. “So this time the Sealing Tower is giving one of their best  _ on loan _ to us. So this new guy will not join every mission with us unless we specifically needs his expertise.” 

“Eeh… tonight we’re looking for the hideouts of a rogue ninja from Kusa though, how can this seal master help us?” 

“It would be a pain if we have to protect this seal master while they’re making their seal.” 

Kakashi sighed, even though his sensei and Jiraiya-sama were both powerful seal master majority of shinobi population always looking at Hiraishin and Toad summon as their greatest achievement and forgetting the origin of said technique, namely Fuuinjutsu. 

He cleared his throat, “The one they loaned to us is a combat seal master, you don’t have to worry protecting him more than you do your teammates. The best seal master means diverse skills, so I am sure he can find something to contribute to the team.” 

“Kakashi-senpai is right.” 

“If you say so Taichou.” 

“Where’s the guy anyway? The Uchiha cousins aren’t here yet either.” 

Click. 

“Speaking of the devil…” Tenzo trailed off before pausing when he saw who Itachi and Shisui brought with them. The seal master they were waiting for. “Ah.” 

The newcomer had distinctive mask, a bird mask with black triangle outlined with red  from the bridge of the nose to the temple, while its beak was red. He didn’t wear standard ANBU flak jacket but dark grey sleeveless kimono with hood that covered his hair and shadowing upper part of masked face. The only similar gear he wore with typical ANBU was the tight turtleneck undershirt and pants, but his had long sleeves.  

“Yo!” Shisui raised his hand in salute, if he was not already in full ANBU gear they would see him grinning. “Say hello to our new guy, even though he is just on loan.” 

“Shisui…” Itachi chided his cousin. 

The newcomer didn’t seem to mind, he just shrugged at something Shisui whispered to him before turning his attention to them, “Konbanwa everyone from Team Ro.”

His voice was deep but also distinctively young, just like their other new recruit Itachi that was only a few inches taller so they presumed the two were the same age. “Code name Sekirei, even though I am just temporarily on loan here on behalf of sealing tower I am looking forward to work with you.”  

At that moment Yamato thought,  _ ‘Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun’s friend perhaps?’  _

General consensus of Team Ro,  _ ‘ What the heck, another prodigy… our recruit is getting crazily younger and younger.’  _

While their captain thought.  _ ‘Great, another Itachi or me. At least he sounds livelier than I was.’  _ He shook his head ruefully as wondering what their Hokage was thinking. At least this boy was not going to join them in every mission, or better the boy back down and replaced by someone older, relationship with sealing tower be damned. 

Still, he supposed he owed this new little guy this. “Welcome to the team, Sekirei.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrong assumption on Naruto's age:   
> Naruto at this point is taller than average... in spite of not hitting his growth spurt yet, and Itachi at the age of thirteen is not that tall considering in family photo he is just one head taller than Sasuke so Naruto is almost shoulder to shoulder with him. That and how his maturity leaving impression he is somewhat like Itachi, and their close friendship made people 'assume' they're around the same age.
> 
> Hence, why no one realize. 
> 
> At first it's just me liking the idea of tall Naruto but now it's some sort of plot point too. While Naruto never say it outright at some point he completely forget he is not even hitting two digits age yet, or rather age is just statistical number he could be careless about. Shisui's teasing aside, Naruto have immense desire to grow up as fast as he could and his body is playing catch up with his older mind. You can say like Itachi, he aged prematurely and didn't even realize it.   
> This is parallel to Naruto in canon, in how he could be very insightful about others but sadly blind about himself. 
> 
> ANBU:   
> No, it's not because ANBU is cool or anything like that. The reason is purely political and manipulative in Sandaime's part. First, while ninja in regular force answer to him ANBU is more like his personal army and entrusted with more sensitive mission. So Sandaime is trying to gain more influence in Naruto's career and repairing their relationship with entrusting him with that position.   
> So yes, this is how Sandaime playing stick and carrot with Naruto.


	18. 18th Legacy

**Unsealing Legacy 18 :** **_Fall down seven times, stand up eight_ **

**_" we act mature because that’s what expected of our station,  
and before we know it, that mask become us.” _ **

Team Ro was one of forty eight ANBU squads under Hokage, and one of the best in said special unit. While Naruto knew of ANBU existence he was quite surprised there were forty eight squads, which consist of two four man cells. That made up for small percentage of their force, but in Naruto’s opinion that was a lot for him who was part of division that consist no more than fifty shinobi and kunoichi. 

Apparently like genin team even though there were forty eight names (after hiragana alphabets) available, just around twenty or so squads were still in rotation. Because of their high risk mission it was no wonder the rotation was focused on team that lost one or two spots. There was a reason Team To who used to be on his guard duty wasn’t reformed with fresh recruits yet. 

Although in one or two years his Uchiha teammates assured him that team To would be back on business. Apparently Sandaime was waiting for Shisui and Itachi to gain more experience and planning to place them as captain and vice-captain of new Team To. They also would be given fresh new recruits as team members. 

The new team To would be Naruto –their jinchuuriki- guards. 

“Go figures I am not without bodyguards for long.” Naruto rolled his eyes, “Then again you two are perhaps why I can get away with it for almost one year.” 

Then again with his constant travelling, tendency that his mission was never ever anywhere near Konoha and penchant for trouble it was no wonder Sandaime wanted a squad of ANBU to follow him around. His recent position as future in laws of Hi no Kuni’s royal family didn’t help either. 

“So team To will be an ANBU squad stationed as my guard, how about team Ro then?” He asked his teammates. 

Team Ro was led by Hatake Kakashi who was astonishingly young for holding the rank of ANBU captain as long as he did. Like any other ANBU squads they answered directly to Hokage, but they also responsible for security detail of Hokage from time to time and in the front line for the most sensitive mission. 

Ironically for an elite unit of Konoha they were not the most tight-knit group, save for their captain and vice-captain, namely Hatake Kakashi and Tenzo. 

“Why is that?” 

Hatake Kakashi, their captain had a bad reputation among ANBU as sole survivor of his old team. Their cousin Obito died to save him, and it seemed there was an equally shady circumstance surrounding Yondaime’s sole female student’s death. 

“Though the rumors in ANBU implied, he killed her.” Itachi informed him. “I don’t believe our captain is a comrade killer, our cousin didn’t entrust his eye to someone like that.”  

His background as Hatake Sakumo’s son didn’t help his case, his indifferent attitude to the rumors if anything spurred them on.

For Itachi’s and Shisui’s sake he told them, it was one of the most intense memories from his father. “He didn’t… I don’t recall the detail such as the complete circumstances of Nohara Rin’s death but, that sadness and despair I saw through my father’s eye is real.” 

Naruto might have no real emotional ties to his father’s sole surviving student, but it didn’t mean he didn’t care for the Hatake at all. At least he still cared of Hatake’s whereabout on his father’s behalf. Not to mention… 

_ ‘That boy… he never stop blaming himself and he keep living for their sake, to see the future for Obito’s sake, protecting his comrades because he couldn’t keep that promise…’ _

That kind of existence was just so… sad. 

“Maa Naruto, it’s not like you to not care at all after all!” Shisui beamed. 

Naruto was ticked, “Shisui, shut up.” 

**Few Hours Later (Koishi no Kuni)**

Why of all places it had to be here? Naruto couldn’t help but wonder, and he was sure Itachi and Shisui had the same line of thought. Their clash here with ROOT was off putting but the main reason was, Koishi no Kuni mostly consist of well… pebbles like its name but this particular part of this country was rocky grounds like Tsuchi no Kuni, a maze like canyon with steep sided cliffs. 

Even though Kakashi couldn’t see Ro members’ faces, hidden beneath their mask, he was sure they were all thinking along the same line.

_ ‘Looking for a group of rogue-nin the whole night here is a pain.’  _

This place was too big to look for a group of stealthy shinobi. There were countless potential hiding places here, combing it would take forever. Not to mention… 

He knelt, touching the moist ground and looked up at dark night sky that was even darker than usual because of the dark cloud.  _ ‘It’s raining season, looking for our targets with my ninken is out of option.’ _ Obviously Tenzou and the rest knew this too.  _ ‘This mission should go to a team with Hyuuga if I can complain, but Hokage-sama assigned this to us even though he knew so most likely…’  _

“So what should we do, Ryouken-taichou?” Tenzo asked him. “We can do a quick sweep and narrow down their possible hideouts.”

Kakashi nodded, “Well Tora, this environment is not easy even for shinobi to live in long period, we can narrow it accordingly with access to water and the likes but…” That would take too long and skulking around here too much would alert their target of their presence. “Sekirei.” He called their newest –but not permanent- addition. “What do you think?”

The Hatake sweat-dropped,  _ ‘I took my eyes off of this new kid for a second and he already…’ _ Sekirei had a compass out, and crouching down as rubbing the ground thoughtfully.  _ ‘Then again as Minato-sensei used to say, being a seal master is all about being swift in battlefield.’  _

He was focus in his task but apparently not ignoring his surrounding since he heard them.“I agree with Ryouken-taichou… but even if we narrow it down that way it can take two days and more to cover the whole canyon.”

Itachi and Shisui were bending down, looking at their friend patting the ground for who knows why. “We have been here before.” Shisui volunteered, “There is a forested area in South with a lake, so that should be a good place to start.” 

Kakashi couldn’t help but elated they had cut down the workload for the night by half, “Is there any other place like that?” 

“There are some but only in East part, but there is no big water source there as far as we know.” It was Itachi who informed them this time, so they had been here as a team. 

He nodded loftily at them and turned his attention back to Sekirei who was looking straight ahead as tapping his chin this time. “Do you have anything in mind? Sekirei- _kun._ ” Too bad because of the mask he couldn’t give the seal master an eye smile, his question sounded more like an order without it. 

“Yes, if I may be so bold… I would like to try my method to track our target down first and I need assistance from the whole team to do it.” He told them seriously. 

Someone in their team snorted, most likely Koorogi. “Well, let’s hear what Sekirei have in mind first then I will decide.” He was not that desperate to rely on a rookie right away, beside he didn’t want to pressure Sekirei. 

In answer Sekirei whipped out a rolled up map and tag, there was a puff of smoke so it must be storage seal trick. But still… Kakashi narrowed his eye,  _ ‘Where did he put the seal? It looks like a sleight of hand.’ _

“Cool trick, Sekirei.” Koumori whistled. 

The newcomer paid Koumori’s comment no mind and unrolled the map, the type made of waterproof paper. “So this is what I have in mind…”

**Two Hours Later…**

Tenzou clasped his hand together, and willed water and earth to mix. A pillar of wood sprung from his back, forming a replica of his visage. “Mokuton: Moku Bunshin!” The mokuton user quickly pasted the tag on his look alike. “That should do it.” 

He saw a puff of smoke from the corner of his eyes, and turned around. “Taichou.” 

“You’re done, Tenzou?” Kakashi raised his hand in salute. 

“Yes, let’s return to rendezvous point.” 

They disappeared in blurry forms, moving quicker than eyes could see through the rocky landscape. They slowed down as they were just a mile away from rendezvous point. 

“He is full of surprise, isn’t he?” 

“Hm?”

The Mokuton user chuckled, “Sekirei, I mean… who else?”

Kakashi shrugged. “All seal master tend to be full of surprise… sensei and Jiraiya-sama are like that. If I haven’t learned Fuuinjutsu myself I would have thought everything is possible with a brush and ink than kunai and shuriken.”

Tenzou snorted, “It’s not as easy as he makes it looks like, hm?” 

“Maa… while I would like to think I am proficient than most in Fuuinjutsu, I am nothing like Sekirei and Minato-sensei who receive formal training in the tower.” Yondaime taught him a lot but his study in Fuuinjutsu focused more on modifying and breaking existing seal rather than designing from scratch. 

An interest he developed after what happened to Rin, that if only he knew Fuuinjutsu back then perhaps Rin didn’t have to die.  

“Yondaime-sama used to say that Fuuinjutsu is all about imagination, a drive to achieve it through trial and error and surviving said trial and error.” He smiled at Tenzou, uncaring his kouhai couldn’t see it. 

Tenzou waved his hand in negative. “Iee… Kakashi-senpai, you made it sounds simple too.” 

He shrugged, “Maa, at least I agree with my sensei. Fuuinjutsu is an art everyone could learn.” There was a number of obstacle to learn from what he knew, like hand coordination and visual problem. “It’s just the matter whether or not people have enough devotion to go down that path.” 

“Hoo…” 

“Though… once you’re hooked you will be obsessed over it.” He would never forget how Kushina-san almost killed him when he peered her notes over her shoulder. “So Tenzou, don’t peak at Sekirei’s note no matter how curious you are. I don’t think he will be held accountable if you get killed.” 

Tenzou gaped, “Senpai! Why am I the one you told to be careful?!” And did he just imply a rookie could kill Tenzou?! 

“We’re here.” Kakashi announced, gesturing towards the masked boy they were talking about just now who was tapping his feet in almost childish fashion while glaring at the map on the ground. “Yo, Sekirei-kun… how is it going?” 

“Preparation is almost done, we just have to wait for Risu.” He reported. 

Kakashi blinked, he didn’t expect Sekirei to know who had not finished when they were miles away from this spot. Only Shisui and Itachi had returned faster than he and Tenzou. Then he noticed the map was nailed to the ground with sacred tree branch he often saw in temple.  Each branch had a bell tied to it.

“You look like you’re doing some sort of ritual.” Kakashi couldn’t help but commented.

He shrugged, “Hm? A seal with complicated mechanism beyond rank A would be some sort of ritual to work.”

Tenzo whistled, “This is a S rank seal, hm? A little overkill to track down a group of rogue-nin, don’t you think?” Even though their mission was pretty information sensitive. Which was why ANBU was assigned to do it.

In the background more and more of their teammates approached from the distance, Sekirei inclined his head slightly at them. “Hm, actually this is just border A rank seal… but it’s not refined enough to be used with only seal formula yet…”

Their eyes widened when on the map a line was drawn out of nowhere, it looked like some sort of burn mark. “Risu has marked the last point.” Sekirei announced. “May I begin now Taichou? Or should we wait for the rest of our team?”

Kakashi nodded, “You may begin. We will ask the rest of the team to catch up with us later.”

Sekirei exhaled softly, “Well then.” He made a ram hand-sign.  _ “ _ **_Haitei Raoyue no Fuuin, hatsudou_ ** _!” _

At first it puzzled him why a seal was named scooping moon reflection from seabed but it started to made sense when above the map suddenly a puddle of water was suspended in the air. This was like Nidaime’s suiton, drawing water from moisture in the air. It was nothing amazing as strong affinity with water enabled shinobi to do the same but not to the extent Niidaime could and it consumed a large amount of chakra even to call forth a puddle.

The water started to spin, thinning above the marked area on the map like a whirlpool. The bell tied to the branch started to chime, and water ripples appeared in tune with the chime. Then the water surface started to be uneven and forming a landscape resembling the canyon. It was a little hard to see clearly because it was all water that made up the miniature landscape.

“Aah… still not perfect.” Sekirei grumbled, hands still locked in ram seal. “I find why sensor team we send didn’t find anything though.”

He almost thought Sekirei failed but then the young seal master told them he found something. “What?”

“A moment please.” He switched his hand seal to some sort of modified ram and the water landscape rearranged itself.

The ANBU captain guessed Sekirei must had minor water affinity, second affinity perhaps? His eyes narrowed as he saw what the water formed, it had morphed to upturned cone while the top shaped a water dome and it was rippling continuously. There was a thin sheet of water around the dome, and the water ripple chiming in tune with the bell was cut by the dome.

“This is… a barrier?”

Sekirei nodded, “It’s a barrier and since in spite of the size it’s not found yet I think it’s a very old barrier, so it already blended so well with nature energy of surrounding area… I was expecting for my seal to show chakra signature of human but… I found something blocking detection instead.”

Koumori, one of his subordinate hummed. “How sure you’re that our target is inside this barrier?”

“Well, pretty sure… it’s the likeliest location in twenty miles radius. They’re on the run so they can’t go too far from the only drinkable water source.” Sekirei stated confidently.

Tokage, another ANBU added. “And the conveniently available barrier to hide them?”

It was Itachi who answered, “Leftover from war clan era most likely, Koishi no Kuni is an old battlefield… most likely this group of rogue nin made use of ancient clan’s hideout.”

Sekirei deactivate the seal, and collected the props before vanishing them back to hidden storage seal in his person. “To be exact…  a Senju Clan’s hideout most likely…”

Kakashi could almost hear the disgust on Sekirei’s voice. “Senju Clan’s?” He echoed in shock, “How do you know that?” 

“Because… Uzumaki clan is the only seal designer that could design a barrier based on fuuinjutsu that could last this long without proper maintenance.” He answered confidently. “And Uzumaki clan didn’t give their barrier seal of this caliber to any clan, but their family… Senju Clan.”

The Hatake’s eyes narrowed,  _ ‘Uzumaki hm… this boy is perhaps…’  _

Then Shisui added, “Not to mention.” He pointed at one general direction, “Around thirty miles to that direction is an old Uchiha hideout.”

No one asked about that one, Uchiha knew their legacy well. Beside it was not much a stretch that Uchiha and Senju never ever lived far apart since the genesis of Shinobi era. 

“Let’s move out then.” Kakashi decided to not waste time mulling over history. “So where is this barrier again?” 

It didn’t take long for them to reach the area pinpointed by Sekirei before the seal master requested them to stop. Which was what Kakashi had in mind already before the seal master spoke first. He knew there was a barrier but Sekirei would like to send a scout to check it first before they infiltrate it. 

Unfortunately the best candidate would be Sekirei himself but Kakashi didn’t like the idea letting a young shinobi on his own without protection. “I will accompany you to the barrier, the rest of you should wait.” 

“Erm, Taichou… I am thinking to send a kage bunshin actually.” 

He could make a kage bunshin already? This made Kakashi’s wild guess more likely to be true. “Good idea, but I am still going to send a Kage bunshin with yours. There is no point if your kagebunshin dispelled before it can get anything through to you.” 

Kakashi could almost see amused expression beneath that bird mask before the young shinobi replied, “As you wish, Ryouken-taichou.”

* * *

 

**Thirty minutes later…**

“My apologies for the long wait, but I get it now.” Sekirei announced suddenly just a second after Kakashi got his own memory transfer from the clone. “It’s a double layered barrier.” 

Tokage always the curious one asked, “Is that a good news or a bad one?” 

Sekirei shrugged, “Hm… the good news is this seal is not stopping anyone from entering, all long lasting seal is like that.” Because a barrier that stopped people from physically breaching the border consumed a lot of chakra and conscious maintenance from its user. “The bad news are, one… there is a genjutsu barrier that giving suggestion to anyone approaching its general area to change direction. Then there is a strong detection barrier, so no matter how stealthy we are, our targets will be alerted of intruders…” 

Kakashi nodded, “I see… I myself found that it seems our targets aren’t using the hideout themselves. They’re camping out of the hideout… it seems the hideout still have traps in them.” 

“Hai.”

“Is it possible to dismantle the seal from outside?” Tenzou asked curiously.

Sekirei shook his head, “My apologies but barrier based on fuuinjutsu manifested from  _ shiki _ (formula) that located somewhere inside the barrier. Unless we destroy it, or the power source is cut off the barrier will stay up.”

“And I suspect… both options are impossible without entering the barrier?” Kakashi guessed.

Sekirei nodded, “Hai...” He looked thoughtful as he cupped his chin. “I would  like to think there is a hole in the defense mechanism somewhere, but it would be akin to trying to not cause a ripple in water surface when jumping to it…” 

Kakashi hummed,  _ ‘So there is no way to catcht our targets unaware, and even if there is I don’t think it will worth the effort needed to dismantle the barrier.’  _

“We can perhaps try to flood the old fort.” Someone said and it took a while for Kakashi to compute the extreme suggestion was made by none other than Uchiha Itachi. 

Koumori snorted, “Where did you get the crazy idea?” 

“Uchiha Tajima’s journal that said the rainy season did a number to Senju clan’s fort because it’s located in lower ground, so when the river and lake overflows…” Itachi trailed off. 

“We have to sabotage the drainage system added after that flood first though.” Sekirei added. “Which won’t be a problem considering it’s connected to an underground not far from the fort but outside the barrier.”

Tenzou raised his hand, which was odd because Kakashi was sure he had never been in academy but he does act like a student from time to time. “Erm, how do you guys know so much detail in history.” 

At that Itachi, Shisui and Sekirei shared a look with each other, he couldn’t see their eyes but how they turned at each other in unison was telling enough. “You wouldn’t want to know how meticulous Uchiha and Senju could be with their record in regards to their rival, seriously you wouldn’t.”   

Considering whatever Uchiha record they read had Senju adding a sewer to their fort written inside, Kakashi didn’t doubt them at all. Image of Obito writing furiously on not so secret note of his about how he was beaten by Kakashi for the third time that week had nothing to do with it. 

Obito was just strangely meticulous about some things, that couldn’t be a genetic obsession, right? 

Uchiha and obsession aside, they began to make a plan. First they had to divide their team to three groups, one for destroying the pipeline, ambushing the fort and overseeing the whole operation carried out without slightest mistake. 

Ambush team would be lead by Kakashi himself, and he was going to bring majority of squad members with him. Sabotage team would consist of Shisui and Itachi. As for the last team… 

“Uhm… you can , sabotage team would consist of Itachi and Shisui and as for tower control… 

“Hm.” Kakashi contemplated his choice,  _ ‘Obviously as the only seal master and one that can track our targets in case we chased them out of the barrier, Sekirei would be our tower control but…’ _ Kakashi was uneasy to to leave the young seal master alone, combat oriented or not. “Toraneko, Sekirei… you guys stay out of the fight and inform us in case we miss anyone.” 

Sekirei inclined his head slightly to Tenzou who complied immediately. “Understood, Taichou!” 

**Konoha**

“I compliment you that at last you see a better use of our jinchuuriki, but I don’t think black ops is where a weapon of mass destruction belong, do you?” 

Sometimes Hiruzen couldn’t decide which he wanted to kill first, Danzou or Hakurei for being a pain in the ass. “While he  _ is  _ a jinchuuriki, he also has a proper name… please use it, Danzou. While nothing I can say about how you address  _  your  _ soldier,  I am not going to let you to call him such thing. And no, I will not leave it to you to find a better use of Naruto-kun.” 

“Pity, I can make him great.” 

“He is great enough as he is, and I don’t see getting you involved with Naruto-kun’s life will end well for you or Konoha.” The Sandaime pointed out loftily, “Do not assume I close my eyes to  _ all _ things you did behind my back, and anything involving Naruto-kun is one of it.” Danzou smirked. “And I don’t approve you trying to assassinate Tokugawa Ieyasu.” 

The war hawk narrowed his eyes, “We should get rid of Tokugawa Ieyasu, his relation with our jinchuuriki is worrying.” 

“Contrary to your belief Tokugawa Ieyasu never ever seek destruction of Konoha, he is not a shortsighted man who felt threatened by a military body like us.” Hiruzen stated with conviction, recalling the young boy who admired Muramasa’s devotion to Konoha and Hi no Kuni. “We belong to the same country and quarrelling among ourselves is just foolish.” 

“Is that why you leave Uchiha clan be?” 

Now he could sense emotion in Danzou’s voice, he didn’t know since when but his childhood friend had develop deep loathing for Uchiha clan. Of course Danzou would deny such emotional matter, but even though Danzou approved Uchiha Shisui and Itachi as assets, he saw Uchiha clan as a whole as a threat to their village. 

He sighed, “Danzou… I have think long and hard about us, the village and Uchiha clan. They’re a proud clan and we’re stomping on their pride with hindering their involvement with the village… our villagers, civilians scorn them for doing their job.” 

A job that most often than not forced them to subdue and manhandle civilians, making them feared and hated figures while all they did was keeping order in civilian population. 

“Is it any wonder why they felt dissatisfied and demand us to change our policy with them?” 

“You can’t be seriously thinking to give an inch to them! The Uchiha clan will demand more than just… a little more leeway, and what next?! Your hat?” Danzou hissed indignantly. 

The Sandaime shrugged, “You talk as if I am going to give them Konoha,  _ correction _ , I am willing to hear their demand as long as it’s  _ reasonable _ and alienating them even further would be detrimental for Konoha because the Tower is backing them up. I don’t like how they’re getting along on the ground of alienation. It will not end well for us.” Both of them were Konoha’s main inner defense, and if he read Ieyasu’s next step right… 

“Those foreigners…” 

“They’re never foreigners in Konoha, even when Uzushiogakure was still standing.” Hiruzen steeled his voice. “I don’t like our current situation more than you do, and if compromising with the Uchiha and the tower will save Konoha then so be it.” 

Danzou slammed his fist against Hokage’s desk, Sandaime didn’t even flinch at the rare display of Danzou’s loss of composure. “You can’t do this! Niidaime…” 

“Put the village above everything, he did what he could for Uchiha clan… the best he could offer! You in the other hand just see them as a threat!” Hiruzen shot back. “A threat we make in our own home, and I am not sorry if I have to bow my head if that means I am not going through the path of self-fulfilling prophecy!”  

Danzou gritted his teeth,  _ ‘Again Hiruzen… you and your soft hearted ideal!’ _  He inhaled sharply and said. “Hiruzen, I hope you will not regret this.” 

But in the end Danzou would make sure Hiruzen regretted it, as once again as the root that supported their village from the shadow he will protect Konoha, even from their own Hokage.

* * *

 

**Koishi no Kuni**

Because of his masked face he couldn’t feel the cold and wetness of rain but when he looked up he could feel the pitter patter of raindrops against his bone white mask.  _ ‘The rain is getting heavier.’ _ His blue eyes narrowed beneath the porcelain mask.  _ ‘I have a bad feeling somehow… it makes me feel restless.’ _

Did something happen in Konoha in their absence? No, he couldn’t think like that but focus  in this mission first. 

The pitter patter had been replaced by heavier noise, not as rhythmical and with it their vision was getting shorter.  Whether this weather was a boon for their side was still up to question. He was not worried so much about this mission, because by standard for ANBU it fall on lower end. 

Still… their targets chose a smart hiding place, by normal method it would take days to track them down. He was glad his seal could help team Ro. 

“Sekirei-kun?” 

“Hm?” He inclined his head towards the Mokuton user. “Yes? Toraneko-fukutaichou?” He turned his attention back to the water replica hovering over the map, so far nothing happened yet so why was the second in command of Ro team talking to him again? 

The ANBU opened his mask, just enough for the younger Shinobi to see his friendly smile. “Sorry you get stuck with me, but please understand that Ryouken-taichou is thinking for the best for each of us… You’re doing very well for your first mission in ANBU, in fact better than most newbies and...” 

If he expected some reaction, chuckling was not one of it. “I am sorry Fuku-taichou… it’s just funny that you think I have problem with being left out of action.” 

Tenzou blushed beneath his mask, “Oh, you’re not?” Then again if Sekirei was anything like Itachi, Tenzou supposed he wouldn’t be too concerned about getting to the good part of mission, namely fighting like most newbies. New recruits in ANBU more often than not revert to their genin mindset, excited for action. 

At another burst of giggle he got Tenzou added, “Sorry, I don’t mean to treat you like a kid or anything.” He meant it that way though, he just couldn’t help it with young recruits like Itachi and Sekirei.

He waved his hand in negative. “Iee… it’s fine Toraneko-fukutaichou. It’s pretty refreshing really… that you still see me as a child my age and expect me to sulk like one too.” 

Tenzou quieted down at that, “Ah… most people treat you and Itachi-kun like adult, don’t they?” 

Sekirei hummed, “Usually after we open our mouth, after the first hour clients usually think we just  _ look _ young until they confirm if we’re really looks our age.” He shrugged. “We definitely don’t talk and act our age most of the time…” 

“And you’re fine with that?” He recalled how unnerving he was back when he saw himself as nothing but weapon. He was a creepy kid, but he didn’t enjoy awkward way adults behaved around him. 

Sekirei looked at him oddly, at least to Tenzou that bird mask gave off such impression. “Hm… I guess we’re fine with that, after all we’re the one who stop seeing ourselves as a child first.” 

“What do you mean?” 

He shrugged, “We have different circumstances, Itachi and I... “ 

That confirmed Sekirei and Itachi were friends outside of ANBU. 

“But I guess we started off the same…  we act mature because that’s what expected of our station and before we know it, that mask become us.” 

They were adult in young body…  

“If asked whether or not we’re alright with how people treat us, I guess after a while it hardly matters.” 

Tenzou narrowed his eyes,  _ ‘Rather than it hardly matters, more like you don’t realize it should matter. They made you forgot you’re not an adult...’ _

“Ah, the assault has started.” He announced and Tenzou looked down, the barrier was rippling rapidly before it popped like balloon. The water rearranged itself to a building that reminded Tenzou of their Hokage Tower.  “Oh good, it’s pillar based barrier after all…”

**With Assault Team**

“Boom!” Tokage cackled as he set the explosive tag off. 

Kakashi opened his sharingan, and he could see the barrier popped off like bubble soap. Sekirei was right that the seal was pillar based seal, namely there was smaller boundary seal around the fort to stabilize the barrier and distribute energy to maintain it. Now there would be no chance for their targets to track them down with the seal, there were plenty of ways to do so but on his side he had surprise element. 

It didn’t take long for him to find their targets, just in time for them to emerge out of their camp in full shinobi gear. “Che! Konoha’s ANBU!”

There were around over twenty of them, only a third were shinobis the rest was just  normal mountain bandit. He noted none of these Shinobi scratched their headband, so perhaps it was sabotage mission from Kusa? No matter diplomatic shit this mission would turn up later, they had to eliminate their targets and perhaps catch one or two for T&I. 

_ “Taichou.”  _ Sekirei’s voice came from his wireless radio. “ _ Did anyone in our team use kuchiyose no jutsu just now?” _

Kakashi frowned, the only one in team with summoning contract was him. “No, we don’t.” 

_ “Taichou! Send someone to two o’clock, intercept their summon! I think they’re trying to send message with it or escaping!”  _

So that seal also informed Sekirei of new chakra signature, Kakashi guessed since it appeared out of nowhere he was on the same opinion as Sekirei that most likely it was a summon animal. “Got it! Koumori, I am going to handle the summon myself… round them up as planned.” 

“Hai!” The bat masked ANBU saluted before darting to the side to inform the rest of their team to relay his order. 

Kakashi sped up with chakra boost, sharingan opened wide when he spotted a Kusa shinobi riding a dragonfly the size of a horse. “You’re not going anywhere.” Kakashi vowed, his hands blurred to a series of hand-seals.  **“Raikiri!”**

The lightning chakra crackled, coating his right hand as he sped up with Obito’s sharingan keeping his vision field wide. The Raikiri tore through the summon in one burst of chakra smoke and then through the summoner’s stomach. He pulled his bloodied hand and let the Kusa nin to bleed out, and went after second Kusa nin that tried to escape using the smoke. 

For the next Kusa-nin he aimed to capture but his target had another idea, after Kakashi used ninja wire to trip him and tied him up to nearest pillar he started to cough violently. Kakashi swore when his prisoner stilled, he was already gone. 

**With Koumori and co**

“ _ Going after them to Senju’s old fort is a bad idea…”  _

Koumori rolled his eyes, “Yes, we’re regretting it now.” He grumbled to his radio as he and his team dodged another trap they set off. 

“To be fair we’re afraid they’re going to use a secret passage to escape.” Hitsuji said.   

“But I think Kusa nin we’re after is not having a better luck than we do to go through these traps unscatched… so obviously that’s not the case.” If they didn’t know the trap well obviously they didn’t know any secret passage.  

Tokage nodded in agreement, in the same time dodging senbon thrown from hole on the wall. “If we’re lucky all of them are going to be dead before they get out of here.” 

Their prayer was not answered as at last they managed to catch up with the group of Kusa-nin. Fighting in narrow hallway was not the best idea, especially if the building and your enemy were trying to kill you. In their defense, they fared better than Kusa group considering two of them were killed by the trap while the only damage they suffered was scratch from close call with senbon trap. 

Koumori zoomed in to one nin he guessed was their leader, since he was barking orders just now. A brown haired guy with bulging eyes, and crescent tattoo around his eyes. Most of his face was covered in face mask like their taichou, but in white. 

He was their main target for capture, not to mention so he aimed for knocking the guy out. However the Kusa-nin leader was more agile than expected and rolled away from Koumori’s sweeping kick. Koumori quickly spun his body, grabbing transquilizer in dart form in one hand and… 

Clack!

He blinked when he saw the stone wall revealed to be a revolving hidden door and swept the groggy Kusa-nin inside before it spun shut.    

“ _ Erm… someone already escaped from that hideout. What just happened?” _

At the announcement Sekirei made through their radio, Team Ro cursed inwardly. “How?” 

_ “I am not sure, this Kusa-nin somehow went off course than the rest of his team. Perhaps he found a secret passage by accident.”  _ Sekirei informed them. 

Koumori groaned before informing the seal master, “That’s exactly what happened actually...” 

They couldn’t help but groan again when not even five minutes later and ten triggered traps later, Tokage got a broken arm, Koumori embarrassingly twisted his ankle when trying to dodge a trap in awkward position. The worse thing however, the Kusa team was not as lucky. All of them were dead, either by Team Ro’s hand or the trap. 

Damn it.

* * *

 

**Back with Kakashi**

He was worried about his team but he believed that they could survive old traps in Senju clan’s hideout. His main concern now should be the lucky guy that escaped from Senju’s hideout. He managed to spot the Kusa-nin, but the terrain made it hard to keep the target in sight. The rain was getting heavier, and in this weather the visibility was getting poorer. Sure his sharingan was better than normal eye but it was not Byakugan, Obito’s gift couldn’t see through this heavy rain. 

He contemplated trying his luck with tranquilizer and threw away that idea when he almost lost his footing because of wind. Damn it, now it would be a match of stamina between this Kusa-nin and him considering travelling through this storm was going to consume a lot of chakra. Considering he was never a stamina power house, that was a bad contest and he was not going to try his luck to see if his target had it worse. 

They reached a lake, and Kakashi noted this was the lake his juniors were talking about before. Deciding to risk it his hand blurred to a series of seals.  **“Suiton: Suigadan no Jutsu!”**

A whirlpool formed and a spiralling torrent shot up after the Kusa-nin, which he dodged to the side. Kakashi congratulated himself that even though he failed to hit his target with it, he managed to herd him to forested area.  _ ‘If we go there,I don’t have to worry as much about wind.’  _ And even if he was almost run out of juice. 

Kakashi reached out for his weapon pouch not for his weapon but to made a cut with one of his blades,  **“Ninpou: Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”**

Chakra smoke quickly blown away by the wind, revealing his pack of hound. “Go after him!” he barked their order. 

His pack didn’t waste their time and run after the Kusa-nin, the fool made a mistake of looking back once and slowed down. Kakashi had to comment him for regaining his composure with a pack of hound on his heels, and using a bamboo tree as springboard to gain more distance from his pursuer. Too bad for him that Kakashi’s hounds was not going to lost him anytime in this range. 

Then it dawned on Kakashi to where they were heading to, the clearing they used as rendezvous point. And faster than he liked they were already on the edge of said clearing, for a moment Kakashi thought it was a good thing because Tenzou and Sekirei were here so they could surround their target. 

The rain started to slow down, and the wind abated when he saw his two subordinates in the clearing. Kakashi thought the Kusa-nin was going to change direction at the sight of reinforcement, instead he ran straight towards Kakashi’s teammates. 

_ ‘What is that guy doing?!’  _

Tenzou didn’t waste his time to form modified hand seal for Mokuton. Thick block of wood sprouted to subdue their target but dodged easily.  _ ‘This agile bastard!’ _ Tenzou’s mokuton was versatile but it was very slow, and definitely not ideal for capturing moving target. 

Kakashi’s eyes widened when he saw the Kusa-nin was running straight towards Sekirei who just released his seal. It seemed because of Sekirei’s small stature, the Kusa-nin thought he was the weak link of the team. Which was not really wrong considering Sekirei was a specialist and a rookie. 

“Sekirei! Watch out!” Damn it! Why Tenzou moved away from Sekirei just now, he should protect the seal master! 

Unexpectedly instead of heeding Kakashi’s warning, Sekirei drew his sword. For one moment Kakashi thought Sekirei was going to fight he Kusa-nin head on, but then the seal master throw his blade to their in spinning motion. The blade had odd sheen of steel blue and it reminded Kakashi of Minato-sensei’s eye color.

In that one moment all eyes were drawn by the incredulity and the beauty of the blade. His trained mind quickly snapped back to attention when he heard a grunt of pain. His eyes were wide in shock when he saw Sekirei digging some sort of staff- which Kakashi belatedly realized as the sheath of the blade- on the Kusa-nin’s stomach. Judging from the pathetic gagging and choking noise he made, he ran to the blunt end of the sheath at full speed. 

Sekirei withdrew the sheath and held the hollow end up, the thrown blade spun down and sheathed itself. Kakashi wondered what the showy technique was for when Sekirei’s grip shifted to the bandaged hilt and whacked the sheathed blade at the Kusa-nin’s head in chopping motion, giving him no chance to retaliate.

WHAM! 

The target fell to the wet and muddy ground with a splash, twitching like a dying cockroach with a comical swelling on his head. 

“Brutal.” Tenzou couldn’t help but commented. 

Well, a lot of shinobi mistook seal master for scholar and incapable of brutality. Which was stupid because they forgot the pioneer of sealing art was a clan that closely related to Senju clan, and while they were peace loving also notorious for their monstrous chakra and creative use of it. If one wanted to argue about seal master, they didn’t have to look further than Tsunade-sama. She was a medic-nin, a seal master, and a scholar that capable to bash head in without a sweat. 

Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his head while his nin-ken stared at the spectacle. “I concur that.” Pakkun added. “Erm… if you don’t need anything else, we will scram now Kakashi.” Without waiting for his permission Pakkun and the rest of his nin-ken pack disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

He didn’t blame them really. “Uhm… Sekirei-kun?” Kakashi called the seal master who was poking his victim’s twitching body with his sheathed blade, which kind of childish of him. It reminded Kakashi eerily of himself when he was six, and couldn’t resist poking the twitching defeated opponent from second round of Chuunin exam with a stick.  

“He is alive.” The younger shinobi said, “Do we want him alive or dead?” 

The twitch of their target was getting wilder. 

“Alive.” 

And the twitch stopped. 

Sekirei nodded, before he took a tag prom his pocket and slapped it on Kusa-nin’s forehead not to gently. The man stilled in instant and began to snore. 

“A seal to knock people out hm…” Tenzou commented. “That’s really handy but it’s more like he is sleeping, what if he wake up later?” He asked, hand clasped to call out a wood to bind their prisoner. 

“Oh, you don’t have to worry.” Sekirei assured him in a tone that made Tenzou’s skin crawl, “He will never wake up unless I allow it.” 

Tenzou gulped, “Erm…” Their prisoner continued to snore, sleeping peacefully like a baby. 

Kakashi eyed the Kusa-nin with his Sharingan, judging from the slow and calm chakra flow he was really sleeping. This man might be weaker than them, but still a jounin and not a slouch if his agility was anything to go by. It was simply outrageous for this ninja to be able to sleep peacefully while surrounded by enemies. 

“Yo! So we got one guy!” That was Shisui, Kakashi was so deep in thought he belatedly realized the rest of their squad was approaching rendezvous point. “Hm? This guys is snoring.” Shisui unrepentantly poked the sleeping Kusa-nin with his foot. 

He didn’t even stir when Shisui kicked him hard enough to roll him around. “Zzzz....” 

“Oi! Shishi!” Tenzou scolded the younger shinobi. 

“Nah…” Shisui shrugged, “Don’t worry, this guy will sleep through animal stampede even.” 

Tenzou blinked beneath his mask, “Eh?” 

“It’s Sekirei’s  **Kanashibari no Fuuin** .”   The seal of sleep demon. 

“Kanashibari like… Kanashibari no Jutsu?” Tenzou wondered out loud, looking at Sekirei pointedly for explanation. 

The seal master shook his head, “Kanashibari no justu is a ninjutsu that physically restrains an opponent, in the other hand this seal of mine manipulate target’s brainwave. Forcing their brain to fall to a deep sleep state.” 

Kakashi’s lone eye narrow, he had closed his other eye to save chakra. “Such convenient seal…” He signaled his subordinate to carry their prisoner. “Amazing.” 

Sekirei shook his head, “It’s only convenient for me… you see, I first develop this seal on request of Konoha’s medic division as safer method to induce coma.” 

“And you succeed.” 

“Yes, but… the cost of chakra activation make this seal impractical in field. So I don’t recommend using it unless you have confidence in your chakra reserve.” Sekirei finished. 

Tenzou frowned, “Hm… how much chakra this seal needs? I heard most seals need little chakra for activation?” 

“True…” Sekirei nodded, “However this is the type of delicate seal usually need balanced chakra input to work, and in this case the chakra needed to activate had to be twice the amount of chakra reserve of intended victim.” 

Kakashi hummed at that,  _ ‘Definitely not a seal for me, unless I am trying to shut down a genin or academy student.’  _

“Maa… so it’s guaranteed our prisoner won’t wake up before we arrive in Konoha?” He asked. 

“No, he won’t.” Sekirei answered with conviction. 

“Is there any time limit?” Kakashi asked. 

Sekirei nodded, “Not in theory but I have been told by medic that for patient that didn’t need it, it’s not recommended to let them sleep longer than two days.” 

“And the risk is?” 

“Slipping to coma I suppose… and it will require medic-nin to wake them up.” Sekirei informed them. 

Definitely an overkill no matter how safe it made transporting a prisoner be.  

“Alright… but Sekirei-kun, would you mind to tell me why you throw your blade like that and used the sheath to attack?” Kakashi asked the nagging question he couldn’t help but curious about. 

Sekirei nonchalantly answered, “It was a distraction, jounin or not I learned that something shiny is eye catching… and a distracted Shinobi is a dead Shinobi.” 

“...” He  threw his weapon away for distraction?! Kakashi admitted even him was distracted by the gleaming blade and the incredulity of throwing one’s weapon when an enemy was running towards you. 

Still… this rookie had a lot of guts to pull it off.   

* * *

* * *

 

**The next day (Hokage’s office)**

Kakashi had foreseen this, in which Hokage would ask about how they fared with incorporating a seal master in their team. He guessed this was another program like when Tsunade-sama proposed program of field medic-nin, to increase efficiency of team dynamic. However he didn’t expect Hokage-sama to ask about Sekirei’s performance in particular, it as if Sandaime was more interested in the young seal master than the result of his induction to their team. 

“Well...” Kakashi began, “He reminded me a little when we get Itachi for the first time.” Before Hokage decided Itachi would be better off in Team To, until the demise that befall the team made him passed the Uchiha back. “A newbie who quickly adapt to his place in ANBU… his first performance in mission is flawless, he knew what expected of his specialization in the team, good in following orders, and very creative…” 

Hokage frowned, “Reminded you of Itachi-kun?” 

Somehow Kakashi had a feeling that was not what Sandaime expected. “Ah yes…  in the way they fit seamlessly to their new role, and eagerness to work well in team. Though… I suppose Sekirei is livelier than Itachi-kun, as calm but not as subdued… Koumori made fun of his specialization, nothing heated or offensive and Sekirei gave him a witty retort that made everyone laugh...”  

Sandaime smiled at him, the Hokage seemed pleased by his comment. “So… do you like the new addition on  your team?” 

“I suppose?” Kakashi was not sure how to respond to that. “I do, I think if we’re in need of expert in seal we would love to have him again.” 

The Hokage nodded sagely, “I am glad to hear that though… if you want him, make sure to make Sekirei feel welcome in your team, he is on high demand after all.” 

Kakashi nodded, as he was not sure how to respond to that either. So he left the Hokage’s office with more puzzle than when he came. Who was Sekirei really? And why Hokage was so interested in him?

* * *

 

**Konoha Shinobi Cemetery**

Unlike civilian cemetery where citizens of the Konoha were buried, one reserved for Shinobi was located at its outskirts. He knew the cemetery since his academy day, that the place existed but he was always left out from cemetery maintenance duty. His instructors didn’t believe he wouldn’t make trouble, but Naruto was sure Sandaime didn’t want him to look for grave with specific name. 

_ Uzumaki Kushina _ _   
_ _ Uzumaki Mito _ _   
_ __ Namikaze Minato 

It was not hard to find grave belonged to Hokage and their wives, they even located in completely different plot of land not far from other graves. 

“I don’t mind you guys going home first, you know.” He told them as he balanced the bouquet of flower in his arms. 

Shisui who was still in ANBU gear as the rest of their team pulled a face, “Absolutely not… we’re going to accompany you even all the way to hell.” He declared in dramatic fashion. 

Naruto was not impressed, “I appreciate the sentiment, but we’re just visiting my parents’ grave not hell. Although… I don’t want you guys to get in trouble if someone see us.” 

Because their anal retentive Hokage was still keeping his pedigree as a secret. While Naruto appreciate Sandaime’s vigilance for his safety, he didn’t see the point of keeping it from him to this extent. If anything it just hurt because Sandaime didn’t trust him with his own secret. Though at this point he already pass point of hurt and leaning more to numb. 

“It’s fine, Naruto.” Itachi assured him. “We will just say we want to pay respect before the tenth October when the cemetery will get too crowded.”

Naruto sighed, “If you say so.” 

It was getting late but it didn’t feel right to go straight home, he was not sleepy yet. Kakashi made his way towards the cenotaph located in third training ground, the memorial stone was a familiar artifact to him. Kakashi was pretty sure he could memorize every crack, cut d uneven surface of memorial stone by now, Obito’s gift was good to memorize detail. 

He almost stopped dead on his track when he saw that Yamanaka flower shop was still open until this late and a group of shinobi that just returned from mission was buying flowers. He belatedly realized that today was ninth October, a day before  _ that _ day. He contemplated for a moment before making his way to the shop. 

With flowers in hand he made his way towards Konoha cemetery, while the day was tomorrow he didn’t want to deal with the crowd. He would spend tomorrow at home and if he felt like it he would visit memorial stone instead. 

When he reached the cemetery he noted the academy students had cleaned the place well, the flower vases were emptied and no wild grass in sight. Silently he complimented the brats for a job well done. He was surprised when he reached Hokage’s grave there was a new flower in front of Shodaime’s and Uzumaki Mito’s grave. 

“Wow.” Kakashi couldn’t help but commented. 

Yamabuki’s long string of flowers seemed to overflow from the bamboo vase, contrasting with white petals of Suisen. It was a simply arranged combination, not particularly artful but there was grace in its simplicity. It was still unusual as most Shinobi even Kunoichi didn’t put much thought in arranging flower for their dead. It seemed pointless, tradition or not. 

So who? 

He didn’t ponder for long as he sensed presence from somewhere ahead. He was not sure why himself but on reflex he hid his chakra and presence, creeping silently to presence he sensed ahead. Then he saw them, three familiar figure still dressed in ANBU gear paying their respect to Yondaime’s and his wife’s grave. 

_ ‘Sekirei, Itachi and Shisui… why?’ _ He wondered for a moment, then recalled another grave visited by them belonged to Shodaime and Uzumaki Mito.  _ ‘Oh, as I expected then that Sekirei is…’ _

It seemed they were almost done and waiting for the incense to finish burning, five minutes later they started cleaning up the incense and everything they brought as offering. It didn’t escape Kakashi’s observation they brought ramen with them as food offering. 

“Is that all of it?” It was Shisui asking, it was very dark because there was almost no moonlight tonight.

“Yep…” Sekirei answered, Kakashi couldn’t see his face from this angle but that long red hair was distinctive enough. 

The last figure Kakashi guessed was Itachi tied the trash bag and said, “Shall we go home now? It’s almost midnight.” 

Sekirei’s body language was thick with hesitation, “I would like to stay for a while until…”

Itachi and Shisui shared a speaking look before they nodded in understanding. “Alright, we get it.” Shisui said as he patted Sekire’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Don’t stay too late though.” Itachi warned his friend. “You hardly have time for yourself lately, and you’re not getting less busy anytime soon so take care of yourself.” 

“I know… it’s fine.” 

They bid him a farewell and Kakashi held his breath when Itachi and Shisui walked pass the tree he was hiding behind on. Kakashi would be embarrassed if he noticed their narrowed eyes when they walked pass, but he didn’t. 

There was a long silence after the Uchiha cousin left, and Kakashi was snapped back to reality by a soft thud. He craned his neck and saw Sekirei had sat down on the stone pavement in front of Yondaime’s grave, legs tucked close to his body as the young Shinobi hugged his knees. Then there was soft mumbling he couldn’t comprehend.

Then there was a sharp intake of breath before something like a mangled, choked sob escaped his lips. 

“Sekirei?”  

The young seal master whirled around quickly, mask on and hood drawn. Kakashi would be impressed if he didn’t stumble. Sekirei didn’t fall but managed to catch himself though. “Ha… Hatake-Taichou? What are you… doing here?” 

He was almost flailing. It was strange to Kakashi to see the young Shinobi who seemed unflappable on mission behaved like this. “Paying my respect like you do, it seems we have the same idea on avoiding crowd of visitors tomorrow.” 

“I see…” Sekirei mumbled, hesitation was clear in his body language. 

Kakashi’s eyes went toward the flowers, the only offering Sekirei had not yet taken back with him. Yellow tsubaki looked almost drowned by two large and one small sunflowers in the center, and the long branched flower that spilled out of the vase was rengyou. The sunflower was not in uniform color, one red, yellow and one small orange, the whole combination made the bouquet resembling a sun. If the vase was not built into the altar Kakashi would be worried it was going to fall down under the weight of all those flowers. It was not an extravagant attempt on Ikebana, and while Kakashi was no expert in  _ Hanakotoba  _ -embarrassingly Obito was more adept at this than he ever would be- he could tell they were full of emotion to be conveyed to the dead. 

“Uhm… Taichou?” 

“We’re not on mission.” 

“Hatake-san then.” 

He snorted at the formal address. “Why… you’re one formal Uzumaki, aren’t you? One Uzumaki I knew before is not as formal and call me with my first name without asking for my permission.” Sekirei tensed at that. “Of course it’s just her friendly nature rather than rudeness…” 

Sekirei swallowed, “Is that a guess?” 

“That you’re an Uzumaki?” Kakashi received a nod in response. “It is, but I am pretty sure you’re an Uzumaki although I don’t recall there is any Uzumaki around Itachi-kun’s age the last time… when Kushina-san was still alive.” 

“Eh?” 

Kakashi blinked, just now the younger Shinobi sounded flabbergasted by something he said. He didn’t say anything odd, did he? “I mean… you have red hair, very skilled in Fuuinjutsu for your age, and also your immense stamina.” Kakashi listed on. “It’s pretty telling sign of an Uzumaki, I think.” 

There was a long silence afterward, and Kakashi was about to open his mouth to say something when the young seal master burst to a fit of laughter. “Ha ha ha ha! This is so… ha ha ha, I can’t believe this datte-” He covered his mouth before the Uzumaki’s verbal tic could slip out. 

“I don’t know why you laugh, but I believe that’s the unmistakably Uzumaki’s verbal tic that almost slipped out from you.” Kakashi pointed out almost gleefully.  

The Uzumaki snorted, “Fine Hatake-san, you got me there. I am an Uzumaki… but please don’t tell Hokage-sama you found me out.” Kakashi frowned at that, “Ah, I don’t mean to make you keeping secret from Hokage-sama, but for his peace of mind it would be better if he thinks no one in the village notice existence of an Uzumaki… I am sure you know why we need to keep it underwraps.” 

Kakashi could think up a few, most centering on certain ball of sunshine that also happened to be his sensei’s son. “Alright, I get it… you owe me though. Because I am sure Hokage-sama would be pretty cross you’re easily found out.” 

“To be fair… I am not really trying.” 

Of course, after all that vibrant red shoulder length hair was only covered with hood. Sekirei also didn’t keep his large chakra reserve a secret either. 

“After all my clan is mostly forgotten… and to be frank I am pretty peeved in academy, Uzushio is not included in history anymore.” 

Kakashi winced inwardly, he knew why it was omitted from their history lesson. Konoha was trying  _ that _ hard to hide secret, even at the cost of leaving her future generation clueless of her once eternal ally. “I am sure you know why.” 

“Oh, of course I know why…” He didn’t sound particularly bitter, just resigned. “There is no point looking at the past and regret, you’re just going to hold yourself back.” 

Kakashi frowned at that, “And yet you’re still here… paying your respect for Mito-sama and Kushina-san.” 

“Paying respect is different.” Sekirei turned to face him fully now, that wagtail mask looked eerie in cloudy night. “Is that what confirm my blood to you?” 

The Hatake’s frowned deeper, for the first time Sekirei’s voice sounded like he was displeased. “Yes.”

He sighed, “Gee, I can’t even visit my family’s grave in peace. No wonder Hokage-sama didn’t even let me…”

Kakashi almost choked at that somber musing, “Sekirei, it’s fine! I will not tell Hokage-sama, you can keep visiting your family here, you don’t have to worry!” It was his greatest comfort to be able to talk to his deceased loved ones, he couldn’t imagine how it would feel if that was taken away from him. 

Sekirei stared at him with an odd look, at least his body language had that kind of impression to Kakashi. “While I am sure your misunderstood me somewhere, thank you I guess…” The Uzumaki drawled on, hesitating before he broke the stretching silence. “May I ask you something?” 

The Hatake blinked before shrugging, “Go ahead, no promise I will answer you though.” 

“It’s fine… it’s something I don’t expect an answer for.” He told Kakashi cryptically. “Ne… Hatake Kakashi, how long do you intent to let their death to weigh you down?” 

Tremor ran through his vein like cold glacier at blunt question Sekirei asked so nonchalantly. “They are  _ not  _ weighing me down!” He hissed, and he was shocked by how angry he sounded. He wanted to sound assuring but he couldn’t help it. 

“Is that so? Perhaps you don’t realize you  _ make _ them be…” Before Kakashi could refute that he added, “Remembering is fine… talking to gravestone if it comfort you is also fine, that’s how you cope and so be it.” He sounded resigned and Kakashi suddenly felt familiar guilt because the Uzumaki wanted to get something across but Kakashi just couldn’t help it. 

“I…” 

Sekirei turned around, “However… dwelling in guilt and questioning yourself on  _ what ifs  _ brings you nothing but pain. Is that what precious people who left you behind would want for you?”  

Was this boy a mind reader? Even if somehow he found out about Kakashi’s past, seeing through him was another matter entirely. He knew there was nothing he could do for Minato-sensei’s and Kushina-san’s death back then, and Rin chose to die for their village. However Obito was different problem entirely, Obito died for him. 

He was selfish, condescending, and far too concerned about following the rules. The set of rules that should chucked out of the window, because what was the point of following rules if you had your comrade’s blood in your hands?  Had he cared about teamwork and friendship in the same way that Obito did, Obito might have survived that mission. 

Tap 

Kakashi’s eyes widened when he saw glowing tomoe shaped blade right in front of his face, tapping his headband. He reacted, backing away with a burst of chakra. “What the…” 

Kongō Fūsa, the fūinjutsu and Hiden that reserved to Uzumaki clan members. Sekirei’s was different from Kushina’s though, the color was richer gold instead of pale and the blade on the tip reminded Kakashi of Sharingan’s tomoe.  

“If I was an enemy you would be dead by now.” Sekirei told him mildly. “Really… Kakashi.” He must be hallucinating because even though the voice was different, the tone and pitch was Minato-sensei’s. “You should pay attention.” 

“Mina-” 

Before he could finish another tomoe blade spun menacingly before him. He didn’t sense any hostile intent, but he could tell it was some sort of warning. Wasn’t he the one who gets dressing down here?!   

“Did you get it?” Sekirei asked after he retracted his Kongō Fūsa. 

Sure there was no danger, Sekirei was just dangling the chain on his face but it was nowhere less unnerving when one had painful memory of dragged around by the same chain back then. He swore he would never made a sexist comment within Kushina’s earshots ever again. Another evidence that genius didn’t mean wise.

“Yes, you did. Just… don’t wave your Kongō Fūsa on my face.” Kakashi made shooing motion with his hand irately. “I am easily distracted when people brings up my issue.” To be fair this was not a mission and Sekirei was not a hostile enemy. 

“Is that what you think? Honestly, it’s pretty simple… you let your past to dictate you. Can you honestly say that you have changed at all?” 

If before it was like a solid hit on the gut, this was more like a killing blow. He couldn’t deny that because his father’s death he became obsessed with following rule out of selfish desire to protect himself, what so different now if he protect his comrades because of Obito’s death? 

“It’s not about wrong or right, but do you even like yourselves? Not as a Shinobi but as a person?” He didn’t answer that because if he did it would be a resounding no, and he had spent years hating himself for letting his precious people die. 

Sekirei went on. “Someone who lives for others and forgetting to live for himself will not living a fulfilling life, if that’s not disrespecting their sacrifice I don’t know what is.” 

There was nothing Kakashi could say in response to that but he knew the feelings welling in his heart very well, shame and guilt. 

Sekirei just sighed, taking his silence as negative. “Well, apparently this is a pretty pointless endeavor in my part.” He muttered before walking away. 

“Wait! Sekirei!” The Uzumaki stopped walking and craned his neck so Kakashi could see the profile of his masked face, a silent query. “Why you’re telling me this?”  

At that he rubbed the back of his head, groaning. “To tell you the truth I am not so sure myself.” He sounded almost sheepish. “But Hatake-san, don’t make what I told you tonight change our working relationship. Whatever I said in the end is still other’s opinion, you may agree and disagree.” 

Kakashi sweat-dropped,  _ ‘Is it just me or this Uzumaki has a drastic change of mood?’ _ He sounded almost detached.  _  ‘I don’t remember Kushina-san had this moon swing even when she was pregnant.’  _

“Though I suppose my main reason… I am just passing a message.” He told Kakashi. 

Then it dawned to Kakashi since this talk began not even once Sekirei took credit of what he said as his. There was no opinion or thinking that was his, the way he talked was more like reciting some sort of script. “From who?” 

In response Sekirei just inclined his head towards the grave, before he left with a swirl of leaves.

* * *

 

**On the way back to Tower**

“That’s just so mean…” Naruto complained, resisting his urge to pout. “I can’t believe you let him pass!” 

Itachi shrugged, “To be fair, we don’t have the right to stop him.” 

“And it’s not like you’re not itching to talk to him in private.” Shisui added with a grin. 

Naruto glared at the Uchiha cousins, before sighing. “I am not…” He grumbled, “I am not claiming credits on whatever I told him tonight, I was  _ passing _ a message.” He insisted. “I have no right to lecture him and I am not a hypocrite in denial. I am as guilty as he is about getting attached to the dead and past.” 

“Naruto, they’re your parents and loyal guardians...” Shisui pointed out, “And yet I don’t see you acting like a scarecrow in front of memorial stone.” It was a pretty ironic take on Kakashi’s name, Shisui admitted. “For hours, and picking up the dead’s bad habit and get it wrong.” 

Naruto stared at annoyed face Shisui made, and noticed Itachi was making his own version of annoyed in which his lips curved down by two millimeters and eyes narrowed. “Get what right?” 

“He's late to  _ everything _ unless someone’s life is on the line or Hokage’s order.  I get he's trying to copy Obito-niisan, but Hatake doesn't even actually  _ help _ old grannies get their cats out of their trees or carry their groceries.” Shisui explained with a huff. “If he want to honor Obito-nii or something he should at least do the charity part, while Obito-nii is tardy at least his excuse is not lies and it’s out of goodness of his heart.” 

Naruto recalled the Uchiha his father was so fond of in his mind, a boy with naturally good heart and optimistic grin. He reminded Naruto of his old self a little, no, a lot. “Is that so?” 

“And Obito-nii was never  _ that _ late.” Naruto almost couldn’t believe Itachi was joining Shisui. 

“Yes, at most he is half an hour late and he is sincerely apologetic about it!” Shisui added, recalling one time he had to wait for two hours when Hokage requested them to go on mission together. 

The Hatake had the gall to walk to their meeting point, nose buried in his porn and unrepentantly mumbled about being late without picking his pace. Then he told them he was helping grannies with their grocery, and he got lost in road of life. Shisui was very tempted to correct Kakashi’s botched attempt to copy his cousin, but he was not that petty to go for a low blow. Especially when Kakashi looked like he was smacked on the face when he noticed Shisui -who was standing apart from the team and practicing suppressing his chakra- was part of the team. 

Still, Shisui was peeved. 

Naruto sweat-dropped, _‘Should I be worried that Shisui and to an extent Itachi have more problem with how not precise Hatake Kakashi at imitating their cousin was_ _rather than the imitating part itself?’_

He had heard that imitation was the highest form of respect -or was it flattery?- to one’s idol. As a seal master imitation was the highest form of heresy in his art, so he didn’t get it. And he didn’t get Hatake either, not more than his father did at any rate and even his father’s understanding should be expired by nine years. 

“Alright… calm down you two.” Not that Itachi need it, “I am more concerned of how he would act around me in the next mission I join.” 

“It’s not like Hatake-taichou is someone who likes to pry.” Itachi knew this well, because back when he asked about the transplanted sharingan it was like walking on eggshells with the Hatake. Even then the ANBU was pretty vague in answering Itachi, and most likely he answered because he thought he owed it to Obito’s cousin. 

He sighed, “I hope so.” Naruto looked up to cloudy sky, the crescent moon tonight was eerie and reminding him a little of Kurama’s pupil.  “I just… want him to hear my father’s last thought for him…” 

For Kakashi to start living for himself and free of guilt. Though in the end what Kakashi would do with that advice was still up to him. Naruto’s father believed Kakashi could pull it off someday, Naruto was not as optimistic. After all, Hatake Kakashi had done an exemplary job in avoiding that issues for years. Still, his father believed his student could overcome this and in spite his nonexistent faith on Hatake Kakashi, Naruto would like to see if that was true.      

* * *

 

**The Tower**

“Muramasa… if only that terminal illness didn’t get you I would have killed you myself.” Hakurei murmured to himself as he dusted off documents after documents. It had been weeks and he didn’t see even a single useful page in Muramasa’s cabinet. 

Shion sweat-dropped. “Mas- I mean… Tou-san, there is no point cursing Muramasa-san now is there?”

“There is! If he continue giving me trouble even beyond the grave!” Hakurei hissed, browsing through Muramasa’s document. “Just because Minato-kun don’t have Satori he thinks it would be fine to put the seal to stabilize Satori somewhere here without telling me where is the damn document! That moron, I wonder where did he get that confidence Satori end with him?”

“Can’t we just make a new design?”

“I would love to if Muramasa himself didn’t take five years designing that seal of his!” If Muramasa took that long he didn’t even want to imagine how long it would take doing it themselves, heck, they didn’t even comprehend Satori fully. Sure they knew what it did and how it worked in someone’s head and chakra network? Not a clue. 

Shion eyed the cabinet reserved for Muramasa alone, “Erm… question, why this cabinet is so messy?”

“Obviously Muramasa is not the most orderly person, genius seal master and blacksmith or not.” Hakurei answered flatly.

The younger Shiomitsu cringed, “Is that so?” Now he get where Naruto-sama get his tendency to hand over messy paper for his side project. “When did he make the seal… it will be faster if we know.”

“Hm… unlike Naruto-sama I believe he started to awaken Satori when he was eighteen years old…” Hakurei rubbed his chin. “Satori is not quite a bloodline in the first place so it’s pretty random.”

Shion tied his bushy hair up and Hakurei held back a laugh because his oldest son looked funny with that hairdo. His son inherited his wife’s curly bushy hair and luckily for his grandsons, Mu and Atla didn’t inherit Shion’s hair but the more dominant straight hair of their clan. They also inherit deep purple eyes that was also dominant trait.  

“Twenty…” Shion trailed off, unaware of his father’s line of thought. “Wait a minute… didn’t Muramasa-san returned to Konoha to settle down when he is almost thirty?”

“Hm? Yeah so?” He didn’t recall the exact year himself.

“Isn’t that mean… halfway in developing the seal he is called to capitol to be one of the Twelve Guardians?” Shion pointed out. “Did he even bring his notes on Satori Seal back with him?”

He tried to recall the almost forgotten conversation about the seal they were looking for. As a shinobi and seal master he had a good memory but it was still hard to call something over thirty years ago. 

Flashback

_ ‘Haku… Sage, can you guys help me with this seal?’ Muramasa asked, tying his hair up in pigtails. _

_ His twin, Sangetsu sweat-dropped. “Alright, and again why Sage is my nick?” _

_ “Hakurei is herb name so you guys will have matchi-“ _

_ Hakurei cut him off, “Alright… stop right there, Sangetsu if you question Muramasa’s logic we will be here _ **_all day_ ** _ …” He was speaking from experience here.  _

_ Muramasa beamed and their eyes were drawn to his twin pigtails, surprisingly not out of place on him in even though he was in his late twenties and a man. “Your hair…” _

_ “Sangetsu… don’t question Muramasa’s craziness, just let him be.” Why his twin never get a clue to ignore Muramasa’s eccentricity?  Especially the taste for weird hairstyle he got from his mother, Senju Touka. Apparently the Senju wanted a daughter and since Muramasa was pretty enough…  _

_ “Guys? Help me please!” He whipped his face towards their direction, blond twintails swung following his movement.  _

_ One of these days Muramasa should feel something when someone was commenting on his hairdo. He quit his job in court because of stress, so he should know how to feel insulted in theory. “Alright… where is your note on this seal?” This seemed to be one complicated seal.   _

_ “Eh? It’s not here… so maybe it’s still there.” _

_ “Where is there?” _

_ “Capitol of course.” _

_ “…” _

_ “…You leave your seal notes in capital?” _

_ “I think so?” _

End of Flashback

Hakurei trembled as realization dawned on him. “MURAMASA!!!”

Shion sighed, “Tou-san… your blood pressure, please keeps it down. It’s nothing new when it comes to Muramasa-san.”

“Shut up Shion! Sent someone to capitol to get the notes! I can’t believe we forgot about that moron’s notes for years!”

That was how a tired Naruto groggily woken up by a very flustered Hakurei apologized to his master that due to unexpected delay Naruto-sama had to wait for a month patiently in the end. Fortunately his caring master didn’t seem to care, and mumbling about idiot student of his father and it was too early to deal with another problem. 

So Naruto didn’t ask for explanation. He didn’t know how to explain to Naruto-sama that his idiotic grandfather left his notes –the life blood of a seal master- in capital and now HOMRA members and Shion –who got the short end of the stick- were looking for the missing notes with not much success. Muramasa the idiot had left almost everything in his old quarter in Houou palace and returned to Konoha only carrying three swords, some clothes and money with him, and thought it was a good idea to leave everything else behind.

Sorting through Muramasa’s junks alone would take days. He had not told Naruto-sama about his not so far blood relation to the Uchiha and he was even more unprepared to explain Muramasa was a bit touched on the head.

Thankfully Naruto-sama didn’t ask for explanation even after he was sober. Naruto-sama was thoroughly distracted by his birthday party and ensuing chaos, especially when Kagami’s son thought it was a good idea to challenge Tokusa to a ridiculous game to make the party merrier. In which the game involved a long clear acrylic pipe -a sealing tool for research he had no idea whose workshop Shisui stole them from- then an alive squirming cockroach and the most affectionate vine plant from Naruto-sama’s garden. Hakurei was not sure how the heck Shisui manage to convince Naruto-sama to lend the silver vine Tabi-san to him. 

And just few days ago Kagami’s son spouting nonsense about sueing Naruto-sama’s plant for sexual harassment and demanded them to care about his chastity. The fruit didn’t fall far from the tree, Shisui was as dramatic as Kagami. 

For once Hakurei was thankful so for the sake of greater good he threw Tokusa to the wolves called Uchiha Shisui’s creativity to wreck havoc, and watched his student - Tokusa’s sacrifice would be worth it- blowing cockroach trapped in clear pipe to go to opposite direction until his face became tomato red while Tabi-san’s vine went *shiver* under his shirt and tickling both of them. 

“No! Not there!” 

“Where are you touching, you pervert!” 

“Shisui, you’re accusing a plant pervert?” 

“They’re mutated plant!” 

“Ha ha ha ha! Naruto-sama help… Tabi-san is- have mercy!” 

“And the cockroach?” He reminded them helpfully of the main point of the game, blowing the poor menace away from their orifice. 

Tokusa blowed as hard as he could, and Shisui returned it. “I will not lose!” 

“Why they’re still playing this stupid game again?” Someone from the crowd wondered. 

“Idiots.” 

Truly... Kagami’s son was a genius in creating chaos like his father. And like any true Uzumaki, Naruto-sama couldn’t draw his eyes away from unfolding chaos and mayhem.

* * *

 

**The next day…**

“Tokusa…” Naruto drawled dangerously, ignoring nagging feeling that he had forgot something and this was Hakurei trying to make him forget. But for the life of him, he didn’t think it was anything worth to worry about.

“Why is that I heard from Hakurei who heard from Yamanaka-dono of all people that according to his daughter you put more than half of her class to sleep?” This constant headache since the end of his first ANBU mission was not helping his mood either.  

Tokusa fidgeted. 

Yuzuriha looked ashamed, “Well… I tried to stop Tokusa, young master. Trust me I tried, but you know Tokusa…” 

Once the Shiomitsu boy started on Fuuinjutsu he would rant on and on with technical lingo that no one below 1st Dan seal master could comprehend. He also sucked all emotion out from his speech, even though he was talking about the wonder of their art. Once Hakurei commented Tokusa could put even Danzou’s puppet to sleep with his lesson and as proven by Sai, Danzou’s training couldn’t help him to stay awake. 

There was a good reason why Tokusa who was in spite being younger was as skilled as his sister, but for the life of him he couldn’t teach. 

Naruto himself couldn’t comprehend how Tokusa made Fuuinjutsu sounds boring. Maybe it was his Uzumaki’s bias but… it’s Fuuinjutsu! The art of writing your imagination and made it reality! It was the well of infinite possibility and- 

**_“Okay, stop right there! I have enough of you singing praises for the damned fuuinjutsu!”_ ** Kurama protested from the depth of his mind,  **_“I had it when I was inside Mito, your mother and now you too!”_ **

“...” 

**_“That come out wrong.”_ ** Kurama grumbled,  **_“I spend too long inside human, you guys start to corrupt me with your disgusting way to procrea-”_ **

_ ‘Kurama I will stop but you too, this is getting weird for us both.’ _ They agreed and Naruto turned his attention back to his vassals. “At any rate… aside from a few candidates.” Which was a ridiculously small pool considering there was almost a hundred students getting the same offer. “We expect it not going well, but I can’t accept it’s because they can’t stay awake during your lecture.” 

“...I am really sorry Naruto-sama…” 

He sighed, “I get it why this happened on the first day with third year, Tokusa started and when he finished you’re already run out of time. But what happened with second, fourth and fifth year on the next days?” He was busy on mission so he had no idea, and the ANBU mission distracted him enough to make him forget asking. To be fair no report about it reached his desk.  

Yuzuriha swallowed, “Uhm… I tried to do damage control, but… I was called for emergency mission so I pass the job over… so Tokusa, Iwafune-san and… Shion-nii were the ones to go.” 

Naruto would give himself a forehead-slap if not for the headache he was already suffering from. Tokusa was bad at simplifying explanation, Iwafune could be funny at teaching but he was prone to digressing and in the end getting nowhere, while Shion… guess from who Tokusa got his teaching skill from.  “You know… there is nothing wrong with assigning anyone with lower rank than 2nd Dan, even a student in foundation year if anything, they could relate to amateur better.”   

“Ugh…” Their face said, _ Why we didn’t we think of that?  _

Though the downside would be they might unable to answer everything curious and mischievous students threw at them. 

Leaning back to the backrest of his chair, he sighed when the chair creak. “By the way who made the arrangement?” It couldn’t be Hakurei because the old Shiomitsu had been rushed off of his feet for the last few days and holed up in archive room. 

“Actually… whoever volunteer for the job and free…” 

This time Naruto gave in to temptation and palmed his face. He knew it was just a side project that was not a priority, and majority of Tower’s occupant view it as charity. Still, he wanted the Tower to integrate more with Konoha and pulled Uchiha clan along in the process. Itachi and his parents were still skirting around the issue with their clan, because poking the angry beehive Uchiha clan had become was dangerous. 

In his side, his people was half-hearted and most of the time was just indulging him. In Itachi’s and Shisui’s side, they were dealing with a ticking time bomb they called their clan. 

And Iemitsu-jii expected result in a year. 

He inhaled deeply, and told himself to just take one step at a time rather than whining about his problem. “Alright… first thing first, see if we can arrange another seminar. And this time…” He swallowed. “I will go to Academy and choose the seal master to bring along myself.” 

If you wanted to get it right, sometimes you can’t delegate it to someone else.

* * *

 

**Shinobi Academy**

Instructor’s monthly meeting was held today in academy and Iruka was never this impatient waiting for second Tuesday of the month. He had been preparing for this meeting to share his finding with his peers and he pounced at the chance the moment his turn to speak came. 

He explained his worry about declining quality of education in academy, that at first slowed down to accommodate civilian children after Kyuubi’s attack. Now that they were slowly recovering their number they really had to pick up their pace. 

One of senior instructor nodded sagely at his argument then pointed out that they had to run it through Hokage first, and even then changing the curriculum back to pre- third war was too drastic change. Even clan children would have problem to follow, and there was no way they could impose this change to students above third year. 

“That’s why I would like to propose a program, in which we’re going to give our students a chance for early specialization.” Iruka began, “So far only Sealing Division shows their interest in our students, which is a shame since they’re not the only understaffed division as far as I know. For example… Medic-nin is especially on high demand all the time, and if we succeed to arrange a cooperative program with Medic division it would be a great boon for Konoha. Even if not all students pass Genin test they still have a chance to be a doctor.” 

It was no secret in Shinobi village there was never too many medic, especially in Konoha. It could be said that their victory in second and third Shinobi war was thanks to their superior medical force. Even in peace period there was never a shortage for medical request, from both shinobi and civilian. 

“So I would like us to try contacting other divisions to hold a seminar like Sealing Division did, and even if we have to open an extra class to make time for it I believe it would be worth it.” Iruka finished. 

They began to discuss it among themselves, hushed whispers and mumbling filled the meeting room. 

“So aside from Sealing Division we will ask Hokage-sa-” 

Iruka shook his head, “No, I would like us to request Sealing Division to repeat their seminar! And this time I would like us to brief our students first, to prepare them what this chance mean for their career!” 

He knew in Shinobi life, spoonfeeding your student was discouraged but Iruka also knew there was a time to compromise too. Especially if it would benefit their village in the long run. 

As if answering his prayer a courier ninja send a letter that inform them that sealing division was interested for another seminar, promising a trial run of foundation lesson in sealing art to give their students a taste of their specialization. 

“Did you ask them beforehand?” They were puzzled why the letter was marked as emergency one though. 

Iruka shook his head, “I didn’t.” He couldn’t believe his luck, he was almost afraid sealing division was so disappointed with his students and won’t give them another chance. 

Especially when more than half of his students fell asleep when Tokusa was teaching them on the wonder of his art, a shame since even though Iruka couldn’t understand everything it was very interesting and enlightening. 

That meeting was adjourned and in Iruka’s favour, the chuunin instructor had never felt so accomplished since he passed instructor’s exam. In his joy, Iruka never noticed his gray haired friends’ narrowing eyes and pure jealousy that twisted the other Chuunin’s face to an ugly sneer.

**The next day, Sealing Tower**

Today was the awaited and continuously delayed dinner with Itachi’s family, and Naruto was pretty nervous about it. He had prepared gifts, and reviewing snippets of his parent’s memories-which was not a lot- as reference. So far he knew Itachi’s father was close with his father, so were their wives. Fugaku was fond of saury in season, and secretly amused of Itachi’s fondness for sweet. Mikoto learned how to cook from his mother and thought Kushina was fearless. 

Not exactly helpful info to give a good first impression, but he would try. He knew how to act as Uzumaki’s heir in presence of other clansmen but he was not going to Itachi’s house a such but as Itachi’s best friend and teammate. 

Poking his breakfast absentmindedly, he wondered. How one should act in presence of a friend’s parent again? He had no clue whatsoever. 

“Naruto-sama! We got a letter, academy replied us already!” Yuzuriha announced enthusiastically, and Naruto almost choked on his hot morning tea. 

Already? Didn’t they just send the letter just yesterday? Yuzuriha did send the letter through courier ninja and marked it as emergency -an overkill- and declared anything coming from their young master should be treated as emergency. 

After finishing his drink, he opened and scanned the letter. Naruto was not sure whether it was a good sign or not that academy was welcoming them with open arms once again. He belatedly realized answering academy’s request would mean stepping inside the institution-he desperately wanted to get out from- once again. 

_ Damn, maybe I shouldn’t speak too fast about going back there.  _

Then again, he was not going back on his word even if he had to face academy once again.  

* * *

 

**Next preview :**   
“My name is classified, but you can call me sensei since I am teaching you now.” He told them, and it sounded more like for convenience rather than military discrecy. “ I am not sure you will be interested in my likes, and I dislike plenty of things.” His eyes wandered to every crook and corner of their classroom. “My dream is an ambitious one and I am working on it now… with enlightening all of you about the wonders of Fuuinjutsu. Here and now we’re going to write our imagination to a formula, tearing fabric of reality literally, and defy law of nature. All of that just part of inner working of Fuuinjutsu, so keep your eyes, ears and mind open.”  

Basically.... below is Naruto's ancestry... 

Senju Touka+Namikaze Kaito           
I   
V   
          Namikaze Muramasa + Uchiha Mayumi     
                  I   
                   V   
                                   Namikaze Minato + Uzumaki Kushina    
                                   I   
                                   V   
                                 Uzumaki Naruto 


	19. 19th Legacy:  Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeh... so this chapter went a lot of revision to get here. I am writing chapter 23 now but go back and forth to chapter 20-21-22 because I am still being wishy washy on what I write.

 

_“ No one is perfect on their own._

_That's why we're gravitate towards each other to make up for what we lack._

_I think we start walking in the right direction only after we are together.”_

_**Uchiha Itachi on his teammates.** _

Never a building looked so menacing in his imagination, and it was not even an enemy’s hideout or anything. In fact Senju old hideout infested by enemy nin was more inviting in his opinion. It was not like he was scared of re-entering Shinobi academy after the last errand that require him to come here and his graduation. More like he was so not looking forward to deal with troublesome former teachers and classmates if he was unfortunate enough to run to them.

He let himself to enjoy ten seconds luxury to stare at the several buildings of academy and ended with one that adjoined to Hokage Tower while taking a leaf out of Nara’s book.  

Rather than hate or fear, his feeling towards academy was more like Nara to troublesome things. Never mind his experience spending time with Nara was limited to Iwa-san.

It was soooooo troublesome.

What a pain…

He didn’t feel like coming here at all…  

Look, the swing was still there and looking as depressing as ever. Whose bright idea to make one swing there and nothing else? He had been fond of that swing before the _revelation_ and avoided it since then. Sure it was a petty reason, mainly Kurama taunting him.

 **“** **_You know what? I don’t care,_ **

**_I refuse to see my vessel brooding in broad daylight!_ **

**_You make a very sory picture of a depressed brat with sitting in that swing!”_ **

Apparently Kurama took him sitting in  that swing dejectedly as a personal insult. Naruto since then developed an unexplainable loathing for the swing, sure it was a reminder of his darkest period but still… why the heck he was so tempted to plot it’s destruction?

“Naruto-sama?”

Shit, ten seconds was over. “Come on, we don’t want to make them wait.” He beckoned the rest of his entourage to follow. Then he realized he was feeling sluggish just making his way past the gate, he was turning to a Nara here.

Wonderful.

* * *

 

**In another part of Konoha**

“Maybe…” He was cut off by a stick of dango shoved to his open mouth.

His cousin wiggled an eyebrow at him, “Don’t you dare, there is no _maybe_ Naruto needs us in academy. Seriously Itachi, he will live.”

Of course he will but…

“Chew that first, cousin.”

Itachi did so, chewing and swallowing the first ball of sweetness. “And the dinner is tonight.”

Shisui rolled his eyes, “What makes you think Academy was going to give him a trauma re-chap and show up a traumatized victim tonight in your house?” He ignored Itachi’s protest that no one was thinking about trauma. “He is not traumatized by Academy, more like what all of us are thinking… _why the heck I even here for years?_ And yeah, for some of us it’s a waste of time.”

He was not a pro-early graduation and pushing meteoric rise in ninja rank, in fact he thought Academy was good for Sasuke. It taught the kid how to make friends, socialize outside of their clan and so on. However to him and Itachi, there was no such thing because their academy years was close to tragic tenth October and no one wanted to be their friends.

The teachers while mostly unbiased to Uchiha children were all showering them with praises for academic achievement and cementing their status as teacher’s pet. So there was no childhood, no making friends and socializing with anyone outside of their clan. So excuse Shisui and his cousin if they graduate as early as they could the moment they see how pointless to stay any longer. Which resulted to them placed with complete strangers, and obviously no one like being upstaged by younger kids.

Shisui somehow managed his genin days by being an okay guy even to his genin teammates, but in then there was still a distance between them and he prefer training with Itachi than with them. They were comrades but if Shisui was being honest, it was hard to relate to his teammates. Itachi in the other hand develop a completely professional relationship with his teammates regardless of kunoichi and his instructor's effort to get the prodigy to open up. Naruto was the worst, considering he completely close himself up from people outside his little circle of friends and subordinates and get away because he was former ward of Hokage-sama. Then again Naruto could hardly trust people to treat him as a person, it was a completely sound concern Naruto didn’t believe green genin from Academy to treat him as a teammate.

Shisui sighed, _‘Rather than a team of prodigy we’re more like team of social retarded guys.’_ Which explained why Sandaime was so relieved to put them together.

“Hn…” Shisui was snapped out of his musing by Itachi who was on his tenth stick of dango, and wondered where his cousin put all those sweets. Itachi was not a big eater but he like had second stomach for sweets. The reason why he often called Itachi was like a girl? Because when Itachi was stressed, he ate sweets as his comfort food.

“Relax, at least… Naruto is teaching Sasuke’s class.”

That halted Itachi from taking another bite, “Eh, how do you know that?”

“Because… Sasuke’s is third year class.” He informed the Uchiha heir, “Not sure how it’s a logical choice, but they’re the main target of this seminar. Of course Naruto would want to go down there himself.”

Itachi blinked, “Why you make it sounds like he is there to pick a fight?” Then he added, “As for why it’s logical , Sasuke’s age already have sufficient practice in writing and mathematic, and they’re planned  to graduate in three years. By the time they graduate, if they did well enough they would be already a 1st Dan for a while...”

“Heeee…”

“Perfect as first batch of proposed program to start their in field career.” Itachi finished.

Shisui frowned, “I don’t like how that sounds like they’re guinea pig.”

“In loosest sense of word, they are... but it’s not like they get nothing in return. In fact they would be lucky to have early guidance for specialization unlike us who have to figure it out ourselves.” And that was always the hardest turning point of their career, branching out or specialize.

“If you put it like that…”  

* * *

 

**Konoha Academy**

Iruka couldn’t help but froze when he saw jinchuuriki of Kyuubi of all people in the hallway, and talking Yuzuriha-san and other two older Shinobi. All of them were wearing standard uniform of Sealing Division, it looked like a strange fusion of kimono and coat with its high collar and wide short sleeve. Yuzuriha wore it like kimono top, tieing the waist part with pale yellow sash. While the rest wore it as coat.  It emphasized their perceived scholar image.

He did a double take, the coat looked familiar especially on the jinchuuriki… then he realized Yondaime wore similar coat, which explained a lot. Apparently his coat was a stylized version of Sealing Division’s uniform. Does that mean Yondaime was part of Sealing Division then?  

_Yondaime was one of most prominent combat seal masters ever known in history._

Yes, he was.

“Ah, Umino-san.” Yuzuriha spotted him, “Thank you for-”

As one all seal masters frowned at him and he realized he was openly staring at the vessel of Kyuubi. Much to his shock he was quickly subjected to a wave of killing intent from them and froze on the spot. For a moment he wondered if they were going to kill him, they seemed like they wanted to.

“Didn’t I tell you to go to your assigned class already?” Came the stern query that cut through the killing intent like a knife. “Well?”

Yuzuriha and the other two seal masters tensed, “Young master, I am sorry…”

“Oh look at the time.” The jinchuuriki pointedly ignored the apology, staring at nearby clock. Then he beamed at them, giving a smile so bright Iruka had to blink repeatedly. The seal masters however melt at the sight. “We don’t want our future comrades to wait, do we? Saa… come on, go to your assigned class.” He gave Yuzuriha a gentle pat on the shoulder. “I am counting on you guys.”

“Hai~” The seal masters quickly left, all of them looking very happy for some reason.

What just happened? Iruka wondered inwardly. While he tried his best he couldn’t help but tensedwhen the Uzumaki turned to face him, and looked at him with sky blue eyes as if trying to pierce through him. For a moment Iruka considered to apologize, but for what? Staring too long? Looking like a mice stared down by a snake?  

No matter how he phrased it, the apology won’t come out right.

“Umino-sensei right?”

He nodded stiffly, not expecting the other party to break the awkward silence first. “Ah yes… I am Umino Iruka, Chunin, homeroom  teacher of third year class.” He introduced himself, including rank in introduction was not the matter of pride in their profession but to confirm how comrades should address each other. After all Konoha was a military organization first and foremost.

The boy smiled at him, a much weaker smile, just a slight curve in his lips. “I am Uzumaki Naruto… Chuunin.” He was in the same rank as Iruka?! “4rd Dan seal master.” Wasn’t fifteen years old Tokusa also fourth dan rank? “I will be in your care for today…”

“Aah… same here, thank you for coming today.” He replied awkwardly, “Over here please, my class is in third floor.” He said, turning around and led the Uzumaki to nearest stair.

He tried as subtle as he could to observe the seal master that was just a few steps behind him. Iruka was not mistaken the jinchuuriki for someone else it seemed, he was older but pretty much the same and hard to be missed. Bright blond  and spiky hair, blue eyes and whisker like mark on his cheeks which was not too prominent because it was covered by long side bangs that framed his face.

Iruka only saw the boy once or twice wreaking havoc with his prank, but he was sure the boy was not this well groomed like a clan child back then.

Wait…

He felt a little silly but he was pretty sure just yesterday he visited his parent’s grave and noted they had passed away for…

Nine years?! So this boy was… he suppose to be third year academy student and Iruka’s student age group?!

“Ano… Umino-san.” He called out.

Iruka stopped, “Ah yes Uzumaki-san?” he called a nine years old kid with -san, that was so…

A calloused hand gestured to his left, where a very familiar door was embedded. “You already passed your classroom.” The Uzumaki pointed out.

“Oh right.” Get your shit together, Iruka! A distracted Shinobi is a dead Shinobi! Trying to cover his slip up he forced a grin to his face and slid the door open with a slam. “Oha-” HIs instinct kicked in and his hand shot up to catch the object that was flying to his face, but his hand only find empty air.

Clink-clink-clink

A golden chain made of pure chakra with koma shaped blade on its tip wound itself around chalk eraser faster than his hand, frozen at the strange sight Iruka turned around slowly  and saw Uzumaki Naruto followed him inside the class. The chakra chain was sprouting out of his sleeve and seemingly disappear within as it shortened, and the chalk eraser was safely dropped to his hand.

“Classic projectile, but uncreative.” He commented.

Iruka let the comment slide and glared at Kiba -who else?- and his band of misfits which consist of brashest and loudest lot of his students. “ **Didn’t I tell you to behave?! And you pull this prank on** **_me_ ** **?”**

Kiba however only cowed a little, and Iruka was sure on Kiba’s head he was being compared to Tsume. Iruka had to say he was not offended at all Kiba thought he was nowhere as scary as Inuzuka Tsume. However he was peeved Kiba’s attention wandered to their guest instead who for some reason looking at the chalk eraser as if it hold the secret of universe.

“Who are you?” Kiba asked.

The Uzumaki didn’t answer and instead asked back, “You’re the one who throw this?” He eyed the crude looking contraption made of kunai and flexible shinobi wire.

Kiba puffed his chest proudly. “Yeah! Me, Inuzuka Kiba!”

“This eraser is a bad choice as projectile considering your objective is most likely a prank and not harming your target. The blunt end of this eraser will make amusing injury rather than powdering people in chalk dust.” Uzumaki pointed out loftily.

Iruka blinked, and realized it was the handle of the eraser that was flying towards him rather than soft foam part.

“Umino-san, may I borrow some of your chalk?” Uzumaki asked, pointing at the box of chalk in various color.

He nodded numbly and for some reason Kiba and the rest of the class was eyeing the jinchuuriki warily. Which was perhaps because they were not used to mischief responded by advice and correction rather than scolding.  

Uzumaki took a handful of chalk in different color, pulled a stack of empty tag and began to draw a seal then wrapped the tag around the chalks. All of these took less than a minute before the blond opened the nearest window and much to their shock, chucked the wrapped chalk out.

It suddenly burst to a colorful smoke and flying with leaving a colorful trail in the air, forming a spiral in rainbow color.

Iruka could see majority of male students in his class were gaping at the spectacle,  “Whoaa…”

“And that’s how to use chalk as a classic but creative choice of projectile.” The Uzumaki finished, “Just now is mundane combination of explosive and wind element seal…” He was preparing another chalks wrapped in tag, this time it looked slightly different before tossing it up to the air. This time it formed a star shaped cloud with colorful electric current.

“Wow, wicked!” A civilian born student of his commented in awe.

Uzumaki clapped his hands together and the whole class including Iruka himself that had been put in stupor snapped back to attention, “Impromptu lesson on how to make an emergency flare done, shall we move on to the next lesson, ne Umino-sensei?”

In instance the class broke to an uproar.

“How did you do that?”

“It’s so cool!”

“I want to make that too!”

Iruka was quick to take control of his students, **“GET BACK TO YOUR SEATS FIRST!!!”**

Naruto dealt with the Academy Instructor with ease, as he had practiced unflappable persona like a pro. It was so easy to see the familiar look on Umino Iruka’s eyes, pain, suspicion and fear. Strangely the hatred was absent from those eyes. So Naruto catalogued Iruka as one of those people who saw him as unpleasant reminder, in which the man simply dislike being reminded of personal tragedy by his mere presence alone.

Naruto to be honest had nothing against this type of people, and it was not like he could help being a reminder. Still, he had to admire the man’s effort to act professionally around him.  It was pretty amusing to see how awkward and forced the man tried to be in control of his emotion and his students. Umino Iruka also had a temper it seemed, since with one shout and a glare all his students scramble to their seats like Kurama was on their tails.

He cleared his throat, “Thank you sensei… “ He kindly ignored the awkward stutter, “As for will you learn how to do I just did, the answer is we start now.”

Aside from a few exceptions, namely Aburame kid with bushy brown hair and that sleepy looking Nara boy they seemed enthusiastic. Beside the Aburame Naruto spotted a familiar looking boy with dark hair and eyes, like a mini version of his teammate save the funny duck butt part. _‘Now, I know why Itachi let his hair to grow that long.’_ The young Uchiha looked very attentive with his surrounding, a good trait for a shinobi.

Another attentive kid was surprisingly the Nara, and unsurprisingly Haruno Sakura who undoubtedly will end up under Yuzuriha’s tutelage one of these days.

“My name is classified, but you can call me sensei since I am teaching you now.” He told them, and it sounded more like for convenience rather than military discrecy. “I am not sure you will be interested in my likes, and I dislike plenty of things.”

His eyes wandered to every crook and corner of their classroom. “My dream is an ambitious one and I am working on it now… with enlightening all of you about the wonders of Fuuinjutsu. Here and now we’re going to write our imagination to a formula, tearing fabric of reality literally, and defy law of nature. All of that just part of inner working of Fuuinjutsu, so keep your eyes, ears and mind open.”

He had  their attention and this was another step to their dream.

* * *

 

**Dango Shop**

While they expected him to approach them sooner or later, they didn’t expect Hatake Kakashi - _the master of subtlety-_ to just walk to their table, took a seat on the unoccupied spot of the tatami platform and made his order to passing waitress. “Chadango, please… and tea.”

“Hai, I will return shortly with your order.” The waitress in simple looking kimono said.

Then he turned his attention to them, lone eye curved to something like a happy smile. “Yo!”

Itachi and Shisui could never understood how their senior could be very expressive with one eye. “Yo, Kakashi-senpai.” They returned. “You don’t wait at all… and here I thought you will let us off for a few days.”

The ANBU captain smiled again, just his eye curved to a happy curve. “I would have, but it seems you guys are one of those hard to find fellow… no known favorite training ground, haunting or anyone closer than acquaintance in regular force.”

Itachi and Shisui exchanged looks. “You find us, it doesn’t seems so hard.”

“I am a very good tracker, Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun.”

Itachi exhaled softly, “Alright Kakashi-senpai… you do know what happens in _there -namely ANBU-_ stays there so let’s cut this short.”

Shisui nodded, “Yes, _he_ is our friend… our closest friend and he knows your sensei.”

Kakashi tensed a little at that, “I see… he can’t be older than four when Yondaime…”

Itachi and Shisui held on their stoic Uchiha mask firmly, _‘Never dreaming we will thank Naruto’s premature aging.’_ Though in the other hand, it was almost hilarious how people keep making the wrong guess on Naruto’s age. Though to be fair, Naruto sometimes act like an old man.

“He hates me huh…”

Shisui couldn’t help himself to let out an indignant scowl, “Where did you get the idea? He had never met you before the last mission, and couldn’t be bothered.”

“...never met me so… what?”

“In his wording, it’s hard to feel anything when you hardly interact with him. He doesn’t hate you but he doesn't like you in particular either…” Shisui told him and the Hatake looked like the Uchiha had just enlighten him about the truth of universe. “So don’t treat him any differently the next time you see him, from what I see perhaps both of you are happier without knowing mutual acquaintance… especially if it’s a hazard to our teamwork.”

“...”

“...”  

His order came and the waitress placed a plate with three sticks of dango in green color and the silence stretched longer. There was always awkwardness when Hatake Kakashi was in company of Uchiha clan members, and even more so if the Uchiha in question were Shisui and Itachi. Because Kakashi never get over how he was the cause their Obito-nii never returned again. Especially since Kakashi would never forget the day he was faced by two pairs of onyx eyes asking where is their favorite cousin, and how he fumbled his way to tell the kids he was the idiot his cousin gave his life for.

So yes, it was guilt on top of guilt. It always tired Shisui out, dealing with Hatake Kakashi because the guy never get over the dead.  

At last Kakashi picked up a stick of dango, and for one moment of curiosity Shisui wondered if Hatake was going to pull down that damned mask to eat. “So… just act like yesterday never happened?”

“Correction Kakashi-san.” Itachi interrupted, “Just act like a captain of our team no more no less…. as for what you have been told, it’s up to you what to make out of it. None of us but you have right to decide that…”

His lone eye looked at them searchingly and for a moment they wondered if he saw a shadow of his dead teammate before he gave them a curt nod and his eyes curved up.

Shisui and Itachi belatedly realized five minutes after Kakashi left that their captain left them with his bill and the Hatake didn’t take his mask off even once but managed to clean his dango somehow. _"_ Ne, Tachi..." 

"What?"

"Does that bastard know Obito-nii _always_ pay for our sweets?" How ironic was it for him to make them pay his food?

Itachi scoffed, chewing his dango before swallowing. "I doubt it, he was not interested in Obito-nii's private life before that mission, and if he did he would know Obito-nii never lied about his excuse."

"Go figures Hatake can't even pull imitating Obito-nii in his honor right...." Shisui grumbled, resigned to pay Hatake's share. "Why did he even bother to try?"

"Coping mechanism... according to Naruto, that's..." He drawled on, craning his head towards the fourth's face on Hokage's mountain. "His theory, and why he let Kakashi-san to get away with it." 

Shisui rolled his eyes at that. "Obito-nii would be rolling in his grave now."

Somewhere in Ame, certain orange masked Uchiha sneezed before hastily excusing himself from meeting with God of Amegakure. The unfortunate timing of his sneezing made the God and his angel wondered if the Uchiha was really immortal, if he still had normal body mechanism like sneezing.

* * *

**Academy**

“In conclusion Fuuinjutsu is a shinobi art where you will spend copious amount of time preparing outside of the field but it’s going to be a boon in field.” The Uzumaki finished. “For example, Suiryuudan no Jutsu require forty eight hand seals and nearby water source.” Unless your name was Senju Tobirama. “Any seal master worth their salt need neither, as long as you have basic knowledge in elemental chakra and shape manipulation theory down… you can translate it to seal formula and execute the technique with seal and chakra alone.”

He inhaled softly, his voice lowered down to emphasize the importance of his next line. “Fast execution and unpredictability are the main core of Fuuinjutsu in combat, your enemy can see your hand seal and predict what you’re going to do and prepare… but whip out a seal and most of them wouldn’t be able to discern seal formula in combat fast enough to counter you.”

Then he added, “But of course, all ninja arts as your instructor has taught you… have their plus and minus. Most ninjutsu only require hand seals and chakra… but do you understand the theory behind D rank ninjutsu such as henge in depth?” Looking at clueless look of most students in class answered while they could use henge no jutsu,  they don’t really get the working theory. “Fuuinjutsu give you no such leeway, if you don’t understand the theory behind the inner working of seal formula… you can’t create any seal… there is a world difference between creating and using.”

He tapped the diagram he created on the blackboard, nin, tai, gen and fuuinjutsu in its own bubble. “That is the cost of Fuuinjutsu… one could argue it weigh more than what other more common ninja arts require. And why Fuuinjutsu until today is an obscure ninja art… do you think spending hours in workshop, pouring over numerous theory, going through trial and error in each experiment worth more than training outside? You can run laps and other exercise, with no doubt your stamina and endurance will increase. Experimenting in fuuinjutsu in the other hand, whether it will bear result or not will be up to question until you go through it to the end.”

Wow, he could see disappointment in their eyes clearly. Naruto had no intention to sugarcoat his lesson  that Fuuinjutsu is an art where you can’t always expect result. It was not about repeating until you get it right like in other ninja arts, it would always be trial and error and you could still fail at it. Practice won’t make it perfect, you could only get it right or wrong. There was no in between, and he who was hailed as prodigy in sealing art could honestly confess he met failure more than he met success.

The reason why Uzumaki was a clan with affinity for seal? Simply because their life force and vitality made them more capable than normal shinobi to survive trial and error to meet result. As simple as that.

“However.” Time to throw a bone here. “I believe you have known that the greatest jutsu inventor Konoha ever produced is Niidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama… and also Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato… it’s not an exaggeration to say their knowledge in Fuuinjutsu assist them in creating their original technique.”  

Naruto expected rapt attention at the information he had just thrown, but for the first time Uchiha Sasuke was raising his hand. “Yes?”

“Is that something to do with level of understanding theory of formula behind the seal?” He asked.

He was pretty sharp, “True… it’s as simple as that, because when you’re trained as seal master we’re not going to just teach you theory but also the right mindset.” He inhaled softly, “The mindset of a seal master is… we see impossibility as a challenge, limitation is merely an illusion not worth considering. So is it a wonder we’re very imaginative and creative in creating jutsu?” He asked them.

Then a hand almost reluctant but the owner’s eyes shone with challenge surprised Naruto. “Then… is it possible to recreate my clan’s signature jutsu with sealing art?”

The Nara kid? It seemed Naruto’s word piqued his curiosity enough for it to triumph his laziness. “Nara clan’s Hiden? Hm…” Naruto narrowed his eyes, _‘This boy is too curious to the point he is wide awake or his father put him up for this.’_ Naruto knew a challenge when he saw one, and the political repercussion following how he answered this.

“I will tell you the same answer to any question on the line of _‘can you do this or that with Fuuinjutsu’_  I already lost count how many times people ask me that…” He shook his head exasperatedly. “It’s possible in theory, with the right motivation, theory, and resource… after all we have ripped fabric or reality with space-time ninjutsu that based on Fuuinjutsu namely Hiraishin ages ago.”

 _So do you think Yin based Hiden is more impossible than that_ , was unsaid but implied.

“I will proudly says… studying Fuuinjutsu open multiple door of possibility for you, however we’re not without a boundary we set upon ourselves…”

Nara Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, “And what boundary you’re speaking of, sensei?”

“That even if you can bend the world to your whim with brush, ink and paper, ultimately you’re still human.” Naruto stated in stern voice that left no room for argument. “This is true for any Shinobi I suppose… the moment you forgets your humanity you’re a danger to yourselves and others, and the power you hold make you a monster because it controls you instead of the other way around.”

He let the silence stretched long, filled with muffled whispers and nervous gulps.

“So once again I will tell you this, the door to sealing division is open for all of you. Whether you can endure it in mind and body is still up to question.” He pointedly ignored a number of offended look, _brats_. “That’s all for today,  I will see those who decide they can follow this thorny path soon in sealing Tower… and have a nice day, future Shinobi of Konoha.”

Umino Iruka who had been in a daze but paying a rapt attention for the last one hour and half snapped back to reality. _‘It was over?’_  Just now it felt like he was a kid who just found the whole new world of ninjutsu back in academy days, he was enraptured by Uzumaki’s lesson about sealing arts.

“Thank you for the time you spare for us today, Umino-sensei.” He smiled at him and Iruka returned it with his own, albeit an awkward one.    

As they walked out of the class and Iruka asked Mizuki -who was not so subtly glared at the jinchuuriki- to take charge of the class while he escorted Uzumaki to other seal master. Iruka didn’t know what possess him to walk the jinchuuriki through the Academy, because obviously the blond had been here and unlikely to get lost.

Still… his unexplainable action aside, he was more frustrated by his incapability to act normal. He knew acting genial to Uzumaki was a lost cause but he should be able to act professionally at least. He hated this illogical negative emotions in his chest in regards to Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. However it was hard to not be reminded of red chakra ablaze like flame, nine tails swinging and roar of calamity this blond boy contained within.

A nine years old boy who didn’t ask for his responsibility and could do nothing about it.  

On second thought, he _could_ in theory. It was a sombering thought. Uzumaki was a seal master and undoubtedly a genius if at the age of nine he was entrusted responsibility to teach. The boy himself said everything was possible in theory when it comes to fuuinjutsu.

This boy…

“Anoo… Umino-san.” He jolted. “If it’s possible, would you mind to not stare too much when my fellow seal masters are around?”

Iruka sputtered, “Eh? I… I am sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

A wan smile painted on his lips, “This is the first time I get an apology for getting stared at… you’re not a bad person after all.”

He clamped his mouth shut, embarrassed by the damned redness that crawled up his cheeks. “I…”

The blond looked at him straight in the eyes and said, “I am Uzumaki Naruto… a seal master and shinobi of Konoha, what you believe me to be doesn’t concern me at all… Umino Iruka-san.”

“Eh?”

“Young master!” A feminine voice called out.

Iruka didn’t miss the glare from Yuzuriha, who quickly dragged the blond to her side. The other seal masters apparently had finished their own session and glaring at him. Thankfully there was no killing intent this time, but their glare sure looked like they would kill him if he do even as much as breathing the wrong way in Uzumaki’s direction.

“Yuzuriha…” The Uzumaki started.

This time Yuzuriha didn’t back down. “Do acknowledge your place, Umino-san. After all you’re speaking to the heir of Uzumaki clan.”

Uzumaki clan?

The timing couldn’t be worse when one of his coworkers who was in charge of higher class sauntered over to his side, and sputtered at the sight of Kyuubi’s jinchuuriki, even worse than him. “You!”

The effect was instant, “Watch your mouth!” One of the seal masters snarled at his coworker.

It was unnerving how in one moment they were so amiable and now they were so hostile. It began to dawn on Iruka that perhaps Uzumaki was not a random surname chosen for the jinchuuriki.

The jinchuriki for some reason was looking at Iruka’s coworker with thoughtful look, before shrugging, and said. “It’s time to go back, don’t make a scene more than we already did… Yuzuriha, Mikumo, Kagari.” At their name being called the three seal masters tensed. “We still have work to do, remember?”

The one with ash colored hair and red-brown eyes looked like he wanted to argue, “But, young master…”

At the protest the Uzumaki inclined his head and Iruka’s breath hitched at the sight, those sky like blue eyes looked so cold and condescending to them. “Kagari, like I always said, not worth it so don’t waste our time… we have better things to do in our workshop.”

Something in his words pleased his subordinates -now Iruka didn’t doubt who was in charge in their group- and they followed him eagerly, hanging in his every word as they converse among themselves. Like they were convinced the jinchuuriki hung the star and the moon on the sky.

“What the hell?”  

His coworker indignant muttering snapped him back to reality. “You know him?”

“Know him?!” He sounded incredulous at Iruka’s query. “Everyone know that _boy_ and…” He trailed off, “But I had him in my class for a while before… uh, he got early graduation pass somehow.”

Iruka frowned, “Somehow?” If a prodigy graduated early there was no _somehow_ , they just _did_ because there was nothing left academy could teach to them.

“Eeh… deadlast of my class, no good in anything except… a bit in history. Somehow Hokage-sama arrange some sort of test to sponsor him for something and he passed, and I am glad to see the back of  him.”

Iruka’s eyes widened in shock, “No good in anything you said… but he just-” It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together, the hostility and distaste of his coworker, the talent and skill Uzumaki exhibited and the resigned and condescending attitude from him… “You sabotaged him when he was a student here?”

His coworker sputtered, “I… no I didn’t, I just ignore him a little! I am not an idiot looking for trouble with Hokage-sama!”

In short, no obvious sabotage that could make Hokage revoke his teaching license. Iruka was disgusted and quickly turn on his heel, ignoring indignant sputter of his colleague.

* * *

 

**On the way back to Tower**

Naruto frowned, eyes narrowed as he struggled to recall a specific memory.

Mikumo who noticed his frown turned towards him, bespectacled eyes seemed to glint under autumn sun. “Naruto-sama? Is there something…”

Naruto shook his head, giving an assuring smile to Yuzuriha and Kagari who looked equally worried after what happened in Academy. “It’s nothing but… you see, what does it mean if I feel seeing that teacher again is troublesome even before I step inside Academy and after I did see him again I realize…”

“Realize…” Yuzuriha echoed.

“I don’t even remember his name, and in fact his face is pretty much forgotten until he open his mouth and I make a guess from the familiar tone he said _you_ to me.” Naruto looked pretty bewildered by the revelation.

In fact now he was sure he couldn’t even recall any face from his old class, at least until they showed their face and open their mouth. Maybe not… now all he could recall was likening each of them to vegetable, like one bully who liked to make fun of him. All he could recall was sweet potato in place of head.

“Of course you don’t, Naruto-sama.” Kagari smiled pleasantly, “They’re not important.”

“As you said, they’re not worth it.” Yuzuriha chimed in.

Naruto sighed, “You know… perhaps the way I deal with people of Konoha is wrong.” That caught their attention, their body tensed. “Not caring about their opinion is just my way to protect myself.” Or more like he honestly had no time to care, he barely interact with anyone outside of his limited circle nowadays.. “In the end, to achieve my goal I have to change their mind about me… and the tower.”

Their expression obviously said they disagreed.

“Konoha is my home, even if the whole village hates me that will never change… and I love my home. I have people who died to protect her.” His parents and ANBU protectors, “Those who love her enough to die for her…” His closest friends. “Konoha however is more than a place, the people living here also part of Konoha… if I stop caring for them because they hate me and see Konoha as a place or an ideal. I will be no different than that war hawk…”

“You’re nothing like him!” Yuzuriha assured him as they felt the ripple of chakra caressing their skin, informing them that they had entered Tower’s barrier. “Danzou is a despicable man, Naruto-sama.”

Naruto smiled at her, “But Yuzuriha… the moment I forget Konoha is also the people living in this village is when I am going down that _man’s_ path, someone who sees Konoha as an ideal rather than home.”

“...but….”

“And that is Danzou in a shell…” He told them with a smirk, “A man who loves Konoha more than anything and yet he has forgotten what is Konoha…”

“...”

“...Then who is Danzou then?” Kagari asked.

“...Aside from a power hungry old man?” Mikumo added, snickering.

Naruto smirked, “A very sad human being… and I would rather die than become someone like that...”

* * *

 

**Nara Clan’s compound**

“It’s troublesome and I can’t believe Kaa-san wants me to try it.” Shikamaru complained to his father.

Shikaku sighed, wondering why his wife made it her life mission to beat their lazy posterior up to shape. She should have known when it comes to Shikamaru, forcing the boy to do something would just prompt their son to find a way to ditch it. Though among her countless attempts, this took the cake. Fuuinjutsu class, of all Shinobi art outside the main nin-tai-gen?

There was a good reason why the art was in bottom line in terms of number of specialist in Konoha’s force. The time and effort spent to hone this art, the risk and mostly fruitless result didn’t make it very popular. He was not blind at the mouth watering prospect this art could bring, but look at Uzushiogakure. As soon as Konoha’s back was turned, their eternal ally was demolished in fear of their Fuuinjutsu.

“So you really are not interested?” Shikaku asked, “I will try to talk with your mother to change her mind if that’s the case.”

There was hesitation in Shikamaru’s body language and Shikaku frowned, “Well, it’s troublesome…”

“Shikamaru, the answer is whether you’re interested or not in learning Fuuinjutsu. You have made your opinion clear in the troublesome scale.” Shikaku pointed out. “At least eight out of ten.” Judging from the long drawl.

His son scowled, “I don’t like troublesome things but… Fuuinjutsu sounds like a troublesome puzzle that I can’t leave alone.”

So he was interested, Shikaku had to applaud the seal master who managed to get his son’s attention. “But you’re unsure because…”

“I still have to train our family’s technique, and learning  Fuuinjutsu seems to consume lots of time… dedication I am not sure I have and… I don’t want an interest I don’t know would bring me where eat up my time with my best friend…”

So Chouji was the main reason, though aside from that Shikamaru was unsure whether this was what he wanted to do or just a passing fancy. Shikaku smirked, “Okay, I get what bothers  you so… but Shikamaru this is the first time you show any interest in troublesome thing.”

Shikamaru scowled.

“And it’s not a bad thing… but, you seems to have expectation you’ve not confirm to the expert yet. So why don’t you tell who taught you about rudimentary theory  today in your class.” Not to mention he was also curious about the seal master who got his son interested in troublesome field. “And I will contact the tower to get this seal master to come to our place to discuss it?”

His son nodded, “Alright, but if I think it’s not worth it you have to help me with Okaa-san.”

Shikaku grimaced at the prospect, “Deal, so the name?”

“Erm… he didn’t give us a name for some reason, but I think he is pretty high up in Sealing Division and very young.” Which if his father went to look, it was unlikely he would get the wrong person.

The Jounin frowned, “Hm… a paranoid type , huh… why do you think he is high ranked?”

“He knows how to teach which mean… he has been teaching before and that says he has large repertoire as seal master to be given such privilege.” Academy instructor was the same, “And I saw him together with other seal masters walked in and out of academy’s gate, they fell a few steps behind him… like he is their leader.”

Shikaku raised an eyebrow, “How does he looks then?”

His son narrowed his eyes, recalling the person in mind. “He seems to be in his early teenage, around twelve perhaps? He has blond hair,  but in vivid shade unlike Yamanaka’s pale one. I was sitting behind but I am sure his eyes are blue… strangely for people who claim spending his time a lot outdoor, his skin has healthy looking tan...”

It almost didn’t take more than a second for Shikaku to conclude who was the mystery teacher was.

“He is also good looking enough to make fangirls in my class squeals so hard as soon as he was out of the class, it’s pretty impressive how he can keep them quiet throughout his lesson… then again he kinda have this air that give no room for us to butt in unless he allows it…”

That reminded him a lot of another blond who when ranting about Fuuinjutsu couldn’t be stopped and nothing they could do but listen.

“Well, Shikamaru… I think I know who the boy is, though…”

Why Shikamaru was under impression the boy who supposed to be a few months younger than him was older by a few years, he had no clue.  

* * *

 

**Konoha General Library**

Like any place reserved for Shinobi, the library was open for twenty four hours because you never knew when ninja would come knocking at the dead of the night in need of reference. So Iruka took his sweet time to do his research, or so he thought because apparently the clan he was looking for was not an unknown from some backwater country.

Uzumaki clan was a prominent clan in Uzushiogakure, also known as sister village of Konohagakure that was destroyed in second war in fear of their expertise in Fuuinjutsu. Not much known about Uzumaki after the destruction of Konohagakure, but they were widely known as clan of longevity and life force and their village gained the epithet _"The Village of Longevity”_

The Uzumaki shared distant blood relation with the Senju clan. Which explained their alliance with Konohagakure.  Through the years, the Uzumaki and Senju kept close ties, with members at times marrying between clans. The prime example was Hashirama himself, their Shodai Hokage married an Uzumaki named Mito.

“Shodaime’s wife was an Uzumaki?”

That meant, the jinchuuriki was a relative to their Hokage?! But then why in their history curriculum Uzushiogakure was not mentioned anymore?

Simple… to keep the origin of their jinchuuriki a secret.

“But if he is a seal master… then…” He was a good candidate considering he understood his burden and the seal work. However that also meant… if he wanted to, he could…

By Shodai, what they had done to that child?!

Uzumaki seemed to take all negative treatment in stride, and downright condescending to some but he mostly ignored them. Because to him, they were fools who see him as reminder of tragedy rather than someone who bear a heavy burden for their sake. He was right, they were not worth it…

* * *

 

**Uchiha main house**

Sasuke pondered over what he had learned today, that his age group was offered opportunity for early specialization. His brother said they were lucky because aside from a few genin with obvious interest in some field, a lot of  genin didn’t know what to do with their career until they reached Chuunin. By that time it was usually too late to take interest in some field, like fuuinjutsu or iryojutsu.

Not because after chuunin it was impossible to learn those, you would have no time to start from scratch by the time you were chuunin. Then you will find harder time to pass jounin exam with no specialty to back you up, while all rounder was preferable trait as a jounin being a jack of all trades was not.

So Sasuke had given it a lot of thought.

His brother was an all rounder Shinobi with proficient ninjutsu and bukkijutsu. While he was good in genjutsu, that was Shisui’s forte. Then what about Sasuke? He got A for main nin-tai-gen but he was unsure which he liked more, taijutsu perhaps because he liked to move his body… Still, getting proficient in any three was what he had been trying to do since he entered Academy and it felt like he was getting nowhere to reach his brother through it.

Which was no wonder because every steps forward he took, Itachi had leapt away before Sasuke get anywhere close. So if he wanted to surpass his brother he had to branch out and took this opportunity because his brother didn’t get it when he was in academy. That seemed to be a logical conclusion to his dilemma but…

In what? Kenjutsu? There was no division teaching it and his brother was good at it. Iryojutsu? Not a bad choice but there were too many girls interested in that because of their naturally small reserve and better control, and Sasuke didn’t think he would enjoy being a medic-nin. Other division that had been coming lately was cryptology, T&I, Tracking, and… Fuuinjutsu.

While he could solve riddle and codes just fine, he was not that interested to make it his specialty. T&I was a good specialty and he could help in KMPF if he did. Still, he couldn’t imagine himself learning how to interrogate people or gathering information. He liked… to be in action, not in a sense like that obnoxious Inuzuka of course. So tracking was not it eithrer… that would put him in the same field of interest as Shino and Kiba, and let’s face the fact that Uchiha was no natural tracker even with Sharingan.

That left Fuuinjtsu? He didn’t want to do with the last choice because he had nothing else left. Not to mention…

 _‘Fuuinjutsu is one field of study where your bloodline limit gives you no edge.’_ Said the seal master.

Which mean Sharingan won’t help him to learn it but in other hand that would mean his brother’s proficiency with Sharingan didn’t mean anything in Fuuijutsu.  Sure there was a lot of theory and experimenting but it seemed in Fuuinjutsu age didn’t matter, what needed was basically good hand coordination and sealing theory.  

Combat oriented seal master like Yuzuriha-san was pretty strong, which meant Fuuinjutsu didn’t stop anyone from training their body. So perhaps…

“Sasuke? Why you’re sitting in the porch when it’s so chilly here, you didn’t even wear scarf and sock to keep you warm.” His mother’s voice snapped him back to reality.

Sasuke pouted, “It’s not that cold Kaa-san.” Then he sneezed, blushing a deep red.

Mikoto grinned before wrapping dark blue scarf around his neck, “What did I say, Sasuke? It’s already fall… of course it’s pretty cold now.” Not as bad as winter but it was no season for wearing one layer of clothes even in Hi no Kuni.

Sasuke sniffed, “Hai Kaa-san…”

Mikoto smiled at him, “What do you have in mind, Sasuke? You seems to be deep in thought.”

Her youngest son hesitated, “Uhm… Nii-san said early specialization program we got is an opportunity, and he didn’t get that when he was a student. So I have been wondering if there is anything I like to learn now from… Shinobi Division, and I think perhaps Fuuinjutsu isn’t bad.”

“Maa!” Mikoto clasped her hands together, “Of course you may try it, but you have to be firm in your decision. Two good friends of mine were wonderful seal masters, and they worked really hard to get there…’

Sasuke frowned, “I don’t mind working hard but…”

Mikoto giggled, “No, Sasuke… you’re not going to be stuck in library all day even if you decide to pursue Fuuinjutsu, one of seal masters I know was a very restless girl and sitting all day would drive her up to the wall.”

Although Uzumaki was wired for Fuuinjutsu like Uchiha was for Genjutsu, so perhaps Kushina was not the best example.

“Do you think Otou-san will approve?” Sasuke asked.

The Uchiha matriarch resisted her urge to sigh, why with Sasuke the priority was what her husband approved for him and not what he wanted? Though lately with Naruto’s influence, Itachi was doing a wonderful job with being independent and carefree. So if Sasuke was looking at Itachi as example of dutiful son, he was sorely mistaken.  

In fact Mikoto suspected Itachi had sneakily acted rebellious since he was forced to participate individually in Chuunin exam.

“Sasuke… just do what you want to do.” Sasuke frowned at her words. “But I don’t think your father will disapprove if you want to be a seal master, it’s a difficult art that require discipline and perseverance after all.”

Her youngest son beamed and Mikoto had to cover her giggle when Sasuke’s stomach growl. He blushed adorably, “Uhm… what’s for dinner, Kaa-san?”

“It’s nabe, perfect for chilly weather tonight… but you see… Itachi haven’t returned yet with grocery and dinner is still one hour away.” Sasuke deflated, “But I do have a tomato in the fridge for you to snack on while waiting for dinner.”

He brightened up at the prospect, “Thank you, Okaa-san.”

Mikoto laughed softly, “You’re wel-” She paused, head craned towards their front garden. She was a pretty good sensor so he could tell who was coming. “It’s Itachi, it seems he brings… Shisui and-”

Sasuke didn’t need to be told twice as he rushed towards the front garden, yelling. “Nii-san, welcome home!” And proceed to hug his brother, tackling the older Uchiha’s midsection.

It took a while for Sasuke to realize they weren’t alone.

There was Shisui-san, his cousin who was looking at him with a grin. However there was someone he didn’t know, looking at him with slightly surprised look. The stranger had the most vivid hair color resembling yellowing leaf in this season, and eyes so blue like it mirrored the sky. He looked so contrasting, standing between his brother and cousin with their pale complexion and dark hair.

It took a moment for Sasuke to realize the stranger was not completely unknown. The only difference was the white shirt with kimono like collar was covered by white coat this morning, and he was not as intimidating when Shisui was hanging all over his shoulders like a sloth and holding a basket full of vegetables.

“Sasuke?”

The youngest Uchiha blushed a deep red, realizing he was showing un-Uchiha like behavior in front of a stranger and quickly let go of his brother.

Itachi just chuckled before responded. “I am home, Sasuke…”  

“Yo, Sasuke-chan!” Shisui greeted him, and Sasuke bristled at the childish suffix.

Ignoring Shisui’s snicker, Sasuke focused his attention to the blond between them. He smiled at Sasuke in the way that  was almost alien to the Uchiha, with how open and bright the smile was. So unlike a Shinobi, but just this morning this person looked pretty imposing to the point not even Kiba dared to interrupt and holding their attention in iron clad grip.

“Hello there, I saw you this morning in class, didn’t I? Uchiha Sasuke-kun?”

Shisui chortled. “And since he is not keeping a facade of mysterious teacher with classified name anymore, he really should introduce himself properly this time.”

He sighed, “To be fair, I am not asking for their name either. Do you have any idea how hard it is to grab attention of over thirty 9 years old?”

Sasuke felt like he should feel offended that his attention span was questioned, but Sasuke had to admit… because they didn’t know him at all other than he was a seal master they became so curious of the guy. Heck, Shikamaru was wide awake, a Nara… that was praiseworthy strategy.

Itachi chuckled, and Sasuke was surprised again with fond look and smile Itachi wore in his face. “I am sure you have seen him this morning, Sasuke. Let me introduce you to him, this is Uzumaki Naruto… our teammate.”

_Nii-san’s teammate?_

He didn’t seem to mind Shisui weighing his shoulder, shrugging. “Sasuke-kun.” He called, inclining his head slightly. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto.It’s a pleasure to meet you again."

* * *

Mikoto didn’t even notice her hands was trembling slightly when she heard an unfamiliar young voice from the front door of their house. She stilled her resolve to act normal, playing the role of good host instead of an aunt longing to see the nephew she could only see from afar.

There he was, taking off his geta while chatting with her oldest son. At the first sight he was strikingly alike with his father, but now she could get a better look she could see Kushina at the shape of his eyes and face. When he noticed her presence, she could tell he was hesitating and hide it well enough for untrained eyes but not hers. He looked nervous but also determined in the same time, she could see Kushina in him.

He gave her a deep respectful bow, from a clan heir to another clan’s matriarch. “Good afternoon, Uchiha-san. Thank you for your kind invitation.” However unlike Kushina, his voice even when nervous came as even. She was almost tempted to laugh when she saw Minato’s smile on his lips, the smile he claimed could smooth out even the trickiest situation. Apparently their son was not below using his bright smile and pretty face to charm people, just like Minato.

He was really their son through and through.

She smiled at him, “Welcome to our home, Naruto-kun… it’s our pleasure to have you with us.” She returned his polite greeting graciously. Trying to ease the tension, she added. “Though I am sure I asked my son to buy grocery for dinner before our honored guest for tonight come, but here my Itachi bring our guest with him and carrying my grocery to boot.”

Itachi looked slightly sheepish, but she was sure her son was also unrepentant about it. “Well, today we get a good deal with vegetable we harvest from Tower’s garden so we thought might as well picking up our guest early.”

Shisui, her favorite nephew quickly added. “We also bring you a cook assistant, aren’t we great?”

Huh?

* * *

 

**Uchiha Family's Kitchen**

Naruto understood this was their way to ease the tension and smoothly getting him to know her mother’s best friend better. Even in their best day, Itachi and Shisui failed subtlety when he was concerned. Which was the downside of being best friends, subtlety was one of the first thing thrown out of the window.

Tuk, tuk, tuk

Sound of knife against wooden cutting board was still pretty soothing. Although…

“Maa, you’re very good at that Naruto-kun.” Itachi’s mother gave him a warm smile as she paused from cutting spring onion.

He was used to respectful eyes of his vassals, fond look of Hokage and accepting gaze of his friends. However, adoring gaze of a mother was a very foreign thing to him. “Ah thank you, Mikoto-obasan.”

He had wanted to call her with more formal honorific but she didn’t let him, but he supposed familiar way of addressing was the least of his worry.

“So, what’s your favorite ingredient for nabe, Naruto-kun?”

“Ah, I am impartial to daikon… and skin tofu pouch with mochi.” He answered as helping her to prepare the soup stock. “Adding grated daikon makes it sweeter…”

She giggled, “Maa… it sure is, Itachi especially love it sweet. Though not so much in Sasuke’s case.”

“We can even the taste with butter.”  He added before he could stop himself. “Or soy milk.”

“That sounds healthy and nice, indeed.”

And more than anything  he didn’t want to send the wrong message with sounding like a housewife, but it seemed it was already too late. Especially when sweet and healthy words mentioned in short span of time. And their topic devolved to Itachi’s and Shisui’s eating habit.

* * *

 

**Living Room**

“So the guest Okaa-san was waiting for is Naruto-san?” At first he wanted to call his brother’s teammate Uzumaki-san but since his mother jumped to Naruto-kun, it would sound weird if he did. He wondered if his father was going to call him familiarly too, but that would be weird for his formal father.

His brother nodded, “Yes, we have been working together pretty often for a long time, but we’re only slotted to official team just two weeks ago.”

Sasuke didn’t know the detail but he knew his brother hadn’t been in permanent team in a while, no one talked about it out loud but there were clansmen whispering about Itachi leaving his teammates in a dust and they couldn’t catch up which caused the team to break apart. He also heard Shisui-san was in the same position as Itachi drifting from one team to another and the only reason why they had not been teamed yet was because there was no two-man team in Konoha.

So his brother and cousin at last found their third teammate. And as expected of them, Naruto-san seemed to be a capable shinobi and fit in like piece of puzzle with them.  

“But why he is cooking in our house with Okaa-san?” He couldn’t help but wonder, “And she sounds like she is having fun.”

It was not said out loud but it was obvious Sasuke was confused by instant liking their mother had for Uzumaki Naruto.

Itachi smiled weakly at that, while Shisui looked left and right before leaning in. “It’s a secret, but you can keep secret right? Sasuke?”

Sasuke nodded eagerly, “Yes! Of course!”

Itachi sighed, then again telling Sasuke part of it was safer than not telling at all rather than having his brother poking his nose to where it doesn’t belong. “You see… Uzumaki is a prominent clan and they have a lot of enemy… currently Naruto is the only Uzumaki in Konoha.”

It dawned on Sasuke that apparently Uzumaki Naruto was an orphan like Shisui, and even worse he didn’t even have his clan with him.

Shisui continued, “And a relative with classified identity of his was Mikoto-baasan’s friend.”

That sounded like a pretty simple circumstances by Shinobi standard, the standard clan children’s protection policy so it didn’t surprise them Sasuke just nod and eat it up.

* * *

 

**One Hour Later…**

“Shisui-kun, Naruto-kun! Eat your fill don’t be shy, we even have ramen noodle for extra if we finish other ingredients!”   

When Shisui nodded and dig in right away, Naruto hesitated before picking up his bowl and chopstick. Inwardly he noted Shisui acted more subdued in presence of Uchiha clan head. Apparently Shisui was Uchiha enough to act refined in front of Uchiha Fugaku.

_‘You know, my clan head~ Itachi’s dad, so I gotta be in my best behaviour!’_

He had been introduced to Uchiha Fugaku before dinner, and the stern man while not as friendly and warm as his wife was not unpleasant but pretty stiff with him. He tried to call Naruto, Uzumaki-kun but a look from his wife made him switch to Naruto-kun. Which was weird… Naruto never understood Itachi’s parents’ relationship with his, especially his father and Uchiha Fugaku.

There were not many of memory of them he had seen, in fact most of the time it was just repetition. They weren’t overly close, but his father was quite fond of Itachi’s father for some reason and getting exasperated fondness in return.

 _‘Naruto… talk please! You shouldn’t keep your mouth shut!’_ Shisui’s glare convey what he wanted to say enough, the Uchiha wanted Naruto to begin a conversation but for the life of him Naruto couldn’t find a topic to start with.

“Ne, Naruto-kun~

In the end a conversation did start by Mikoto-baasan who if Naruto didn’t know was his mother’s friend, he would suspect was interrogating him thoroughly with motherly tone. She asked about his hobby, which he answered with gardening and designing seal.

Which gotten him a fond sigh, remarking how he and Itachi were both workaholic and anything work related couldn’t be their hobby. The question then moved on to what he planted in his garden, which ranged from a bush of clover to exotic orchid from moon country. Which had nothing on well sculpted garden of Uchiha’s main house, Naruto liked gardening but he didn’t do landscaping and let his plants to grow however they liked.  

So the dinner ended and with Mikoto washing dishes and refused Naruto to help again, he was left sitting in Uchiha family’s living room with his team, Fugaku and Sasuke. Shisui it seemed was still fixated on him starting a conversation with either Fugaku or Sasuke for some reason he couldn’t comprehend. Seriously, since when he was a good conversationalist in casual talk? He and Itachi were similar in that regard, they were good at talking about work, politic and history but outside of that?  
He was even worse than Itachi, simply because the pool of people they could talk casually with was embarrassingly small. Shisui should have known and helped to start one since this awkward silence made him reconsider excusing himself already…

“Uhm… Naruto-san.”

Unexpectedly it was Sasuke who started one, perhaps not, the kid tried to act refined like an Uchiha should but he was still a kid and a curious one according to Shisui. “Yes?”

“Yuzuriha-sensei who came before in my class said Fuuinjutsu is divided to many different branch, and most seal master chose to specialize only in one or two… so in what branch of Fuuinjutsu you’re specialized in?” He asked.

And here Naruto thought he won’t talk much to a new people, “My specialization?” That was an unusual question to be asked to him to be honest. “Hm, I guess I don’t focus in any particular branch of study… in practice wise though,security and enhancement seal are the most common.” He began to explain, “In research however I study whatever interest me… as I have basic theory in all branch covered.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened, “So, you’re a generalist then?”

Yuzuriha told them such thing too, hm? “Ah, I have been classified as one I suppose.” In short a seal master who had mastery in more than a few branches in Fuuinjutsu. It said nothing about his talent actually, more like being practical in what he need rather than personal interest.

“The first time I heard such classification in regards to you.” Shisui couldn’t help but commented, “But since you’re good in security seals shouldn’t you a specialist in that?”

He shrugged, taking a sip of his green tea and noted the Uchiha had a good taste for their tea. “It’s just that the most common use of seal is security purpose, most seal master in my division are adequate at it. If we likened it to general shinobi arts, it’s like three basic ninjustsu from academy.”

“Is storage scroll a basic seal too?” Sasuke pressed on.

 _Hee… he is more interested in Fuuinjutsu than expected, what a surprise._ Naruto couldn’t help but thought, it was unusual for an Uchiha. Perhaps because Sasuke had not awaken his Sharingan yet? The reason Fuuinjutsu was unpopular with Doujutsu clan -Hyuuga’s bird cage seal didn’t count- was simply because to their eyes Fuuinjutsu didn’t become more understandable unlike other Shinobi arts, as if it was written with different language but with the same letter. They could read it to an extent but couldn’t comprehend the meaning.

Naruto shook his head, “It does seems like a basic seal, but storage seal is actually under category of time-space seal. It’s one of the more complicated branch of Fuuinjutsu, and storage seal is the fundamental seal formula of this branch… it ranked C, which mean anyone can make a storage seal following standard design, but tweaking it takes a master.”

Shisui nodded sagely, “Which explain so well why it’s expensive.”

Naruto sweat-dropped, “I designed yours myself, you have no right to complain as you get them for free.” Then he turned his attention back to Sasuke.

“Are you interested to learn, Sasuke?” Itachi asked. “If you do, I am sure Naruto don’t mind answering your questions.”

The youngest Uchiha in the room tensed at that, hesitating. “Erm… I am curious and-”

Naruto didn’t miss how Sasuke’s ebony orbs darted from his father to Itachi. He sweat-dropped. So there was a drama of neglected spare heir in this house and when the heir was Itachi... “Well-”

“Fuuinjutsu is not a field fit for passing interest, Sasuke…” Fugaku spoke for the first time, startling the them.

Sasuke fidgeted, “I am just wondering…”

“It’s a high risk field of study to learn.” Fugaku added, “Learning foundation alone could be done as long as you have discipline, but taking it further than that is entirely different matter together.”

If he was not a seal master Naruto would have thought Uchiha Fugaku was underestimating his son even before the boy was trying, but he was one so he knew his field was one where half-baked apprentice died a fool’s death in a workshop instead of battlefield. It was no place for a child to prove himself to his parents.

Sasuke shrank, “Yes, father.”

A shame, regardless of his reason to turn to Fuuinjutsu the boy was quite eager.

Then for some reason the Uchiha clan head send the boy to his room, saying it was getting late and he had school tomorrow. Naruto was pretty sure it was not that late, and merely an excuse to get the only minor in the house out of the room.  

“At any rate Naruto-kun.” He didn’t get why there was a tint of hesitation in the way his name rolled off of Fugaku’s mouth, which be readily blamed to his demented social skill. “As we Uchiha in Police Force work closely to inner defense of our village, aside from our duty to manage security of our civilian population… we’re considering to recruit members of sealing division to our rank to operate better with fuuinjutsu based security in Konoha.”

Ah, work and alliance. Another familiar ground he could help but pounce to. “I am sure Master Hakurei can arrange something.” In fact he had been waiting for this and with Itachi’s and Shisui’s suggestion already had some suitable candidate in mind. “I also believe Master Hakurei would arrange formal meetings to discuss our schedule in updating security details.”

Fugaku frowned thoughfully, “Updating? And how this concern us from KMPF?”

“You see, Fugaku-sa…”

He was interjected by a smooth, “My, Naruto-kun… there is no need to be so formal even if it’s about work! Maa maa…”

Naruto sweat-dropped, _‘Is it just me or I sense a hint of threat?’_ He laughed nervously, glancing at Fugaku who didn’t seem to be fazed by the interruption. “Ah yes, of course… Mikoto-baasan.” Why he was scared of defying Itachi’s mother more than he did Hokage or Iemitsu-jii, Naruto wondered. “So it’s like this, Fugaku-jiisan… there is a plan to update security seal system of our village in unspecified timeline in the future…”

More like overhauling the whole old system and replaced it with a new one, which had been delayed for years due to certain smiling bastard called Aizen.

“However like any seal in gargantuan scale…” It was covering the whole village after all, “The seal components are scattered all over the village and over forty percents located in civilian sector.” Because spies and infiltrators more often than not disguised as civilians rather than ninja. “Which is a great concern to us because we don’t have experience in crowd control, and some maintenance and test had to be done in day time…”

“Day time, why not at night when no civilians would crowd around you?” Shisui asked.

“Ah… the seal system used currently is ancient, so feng-shui is also involved.” To be honest Naruto disliked this kind of delicate seal, because you couldn’t wrap logic around it. “It concern the balance of yin-yang chakra of the seal, it’s the matter of precaution and when dealing with delicate system like this we can’t be too careful.”

Fugaku frowned, “You seems to be under impression it will take a long time…”

Naruto looked sheepish in respond, “Which is why I said _unspecified_ timeline… at the fastest one year but it could double that if we can’t debug the system quick enough, the more complicated the seal is… the more unexpected glitch we could run across… “

“But why now? If the old system is still working the tower don’t have to be rush it…” Itachi added, curious since this was the first time he heard about it.

The jinchuuriki sighed, “It’s another problem we would like to discuss as soon as possible, but I think it’s for the best to warn KMPF now… there is a problem with the current system apparently, the Barrier Division claims there are disturbances with the seal but we can’t find anything wrong with our seal. They’re not malfunctioning or anything…”

“Ah, them huh…”

Barrier Division, a group that at the first glance was part of sealing division but completely different like ROOT to Anbu. They were a group of shinobi formed to run the barrier system ‘ _Kami no Me’_ Uzumaki Mito created in the founding era of Konoha. In simple term, they were the operator to Sealin Division’s technician.

Naruto himself only visited a couple of time to accompany Hakurei, and their relationship with Barrier Division could be summarized in one word.

Horrible.

Three group of shinobi in charge of Konoha inner defense discounting regular force never had amiable relationship with each other. The sealing division felt like foreign workers and see Barrier Division as a group created to decrease their role and failed short because while they could run the system, they couldn’t maintain the system, a sentiment returned equally by Barrier Division. While KMPF kept to themselves as if they had nothing to do with each other.

To be honest Naruto was surprised Konoha was still standing with such a poor dynamic between them. It was getting better between The Tower and KMPF but not so much with Barrier Division.

Fugaku frowned, “Should we tighten our security then?”

“We would love to considering we’re still uncertain of current condition of the barrier, but we would like to keep it as quiet as possible rather than rousing panic in our civilian populace…” Increasing number of patrolling police force was bound to make civilian restless.

He nodded, knowing very well that to village’s defense there was nothing worse than restless population. “Then I shall tell my subordinates to be more vigilant.”

Well, it didn’t go as well as whatever Shisui had in mind considering this supposedly light hearted talk devolved to their work. Naruto however never had a high expectation of himself when it was coming to being sociable, so he counted the dinner as smashing success. No matter what Shisui said, seriously his older friend was getting ridiculous these days for some reason he couldn’t comprehend.

* * *

 

It was late and Naruto had went home in a pretty good mood. So he had no idea what a tight spot he had left his friends behind with simply being himself. “So… dear son of mine, and you too my beloved nephew… care to explain yourself?”

“Mikoto… don’t be so harsh on them, I am sure they have their reason.” It was odd to see Fugaku being the one who had to pacify his wife.

“And I am not sure I will like their reason, hiding this from me… he is my best friend’s son and even if this is the first time I met him.” Because of that Hokage and his meddling council. “He is already like a son to me, and your precious teammate.”

“...”

“...”

Mikoto sighed, “I am not surprised to meet a very mature child, considering his hard life and I have met my share of children forced to mature before their time. “ Her son was the prime example. “However… Naruto-kun seems to be not even aware of his age.”  He had been in Sasuke’s class to teach so he should have known Sasuke was his age and yet there was no awkwardness or slightest hint of self-doubt when faced by a normal child his age. He didn’t question how different he was, and naturally acted as an older figure to Sasuke.

That was _not_ normal, as even Itachi from what Mikoto observed feel different and awkward when faced by less mature child his age, uncomfortable by reminder of his much older mental age.

Shisui sighed, “Well… we suspect you will not react well to this revelation, Mikoto-baasan. It can’t be helped though since explaining Naruto’s mental state is just going to be confusing if you never met him in person…”

"Hoo... so you're not denying you're stalling to explain it to me?" Mikoto narrowed her eyes and the two flailed to explain.

Itachi shook his head. “But rest assured… he is fine, Hakurei-dono requested Yamanaka clan head himself to evaluate his mentality…” Which was a discreet affair, and calling in a clan debt the Yamanaka clan head agreed to keep the result secret. “Aside from mentally older there is nothing unusual from Naruto by Shinobi’s standard.” Though from his evaluation, they found out Naruto was very good in compartmentalize his memory and thought, which was why he was able to keep his mind clear in spite of unhealthy environment he grew up with.

Basically Naruto pushed all negative thought and memory to the very back of his mind, which was why he had such a bright and sunny worldview prior to his incident. Which was a kind way to phrase the jinchuuriki was so positive to the point of borderline delusional. Though Shisui and Itachi weren’t going to inform his parents about it. Especially the part where Yamanaka Inoichi cried in front of them after his session with Naruto. Though because of that they got reliable ally on Yamanaka Inoichi, not just because he owed them after the fiasco with Danzou.

”Itachi…” Fugaku started, “Being older mentally than your physical age like your mother said is not uncommon especially for Shinobi, however how he interact with Sasuke who is his age is _not normal_.” So don’t make him sounds fine when he is not.  

Mentally older children wouldn’t treat their peers as a child, and tend to look down on their childishness. Naruto however genuinely treat Sasuke as a much younger child, but interact Itachi and Shisui as their equal in spite of considerable age gap.

Shisui shifted in his seat, “We will confess, we screwed up a big time…”   He resisted his urge to flinch at Mikoto’s narrowed eyes, “At first… Naruto is pretty normal for a kid when we first met him, it’s pretty funny how we met him… and getting to know him afterward. Our late ANBU captain pretty much set us up as his play date…”

It was an amusing idea at that time.

“When I first met him… Naruto was not so different than Sasuke, mental age wise. Though because of his unique position he is more open minded and skeptical than most children…” Itachi added, recalling the skittish child who reluctantly shared his private space with Itachi.

Shisui scoffed at that, “At least back then I still can think Naruto is a kid and he is Sasuke’s age. I could totally relate Naruto and Sasuke from time to time as adorable brats with a lot of things to prove.” Shisui drawled on, “It was a very gradual change back then and we waived it off as stress… he was under a lot of pressure from his former teacher, the tower and himself to get his foundation study finished as soon as possible.”

They weren’t as close with Naruto as now back then, so it was hard to see the change.

“Then a simple issue came up, he has a hard time to make time for physical training. His teacher back then was teaching him intensively… and it’s really frustrating him. So without thinking twice… I… teach him Kagebunshin.”

Mikoto’s eyes widened in shock, that was one of Kushina’s favorite jutsu but even the red head avoided overusing the technique for one reason. She didn’t want to age mentally too quickly, which was why she used it sparingly outside of battle.  

“It sounded like a great idea back then!” Shisui flailed, “Beside he couldn’t use more than ten at a time.”

“Then he was getting better at using Kagebunshin, Naruto perhaps already surpassed Niidaime himself in mastery of Kagebunshin.” Itachi added. “By now he even barely feel the mental strain.”

“Which is also why he didn’t notice, and we didn’t either… we forget Naruto is much younger than us. The age gap just shrink as time passed and by now it’s odd to remember he is Sasuke’s age…” Shisui trailed off, “It’s just happen! Then that incident with Aizen happened, our captain and the rest of Team To were killed in action…”

It was a shock of his life, to find loyal shadows who had been protecting him for so long were gone, killed by his former teacher. Naruto might never trusted Aizen, the man reek of distrust since their first meeting. However, it would be a lie to say Naruto didn’t look up to Aizen even slightest as a seal master and disciple. In spite of everything Aizen was the first teacher who had seriously devoted in teaching Naruto fairly and to some extend Aizen did love Naruto as his student.

It was proven in their confrontation, that in spite of many chance to kill Naruto Aizen never tried to kill Naruto with all his power. Naruto was well aware of this, and until today some part of him wished Aizen didn’t chose revenge that bring nothing but pain and destruction.

“That was perhaps when Naruto decide to quit being a child… “ Itachi murmured softly. “Though even before that…” Naruto already felt he couldn’t stay a child, he didn’t have that luxury and perhaps never had. The death of Team To and Aizen’s sealing was the last straw. “But Kaa-san I would like to think in spite of everything he was truly happy with his current self.”

Shisui nodded, “Well… happier than when he was a child.” He didn’t deceive himself that the world was always a bright and sunny place to keep his mind sane anymore. “And I would like to think that for Naruto to be content with being himself, normal or not, it’s more important.” He was fine with being weird.

Itachi inclined his neck towards general direction of Sasuke’s room. “True… perhaps to Naruto, Sasuke would never be more than my brother, or classmate you and Kushina-san hoped them to be. Sometimes I even feels guilty that I take that position away from Sasuke.”

Naruto was a loyal and caring friend and it was hard to find someone like that in your lifetime, Itachi was lucky enough to find Naruto and Shisui.

“But more than anything, I am glad I am his friend…” Itachi admitted, “He is perhaps one of few I couldn’t help but being selfish about, even from Sasuke…To me…No one is perfect on their own.”Even him who was hailed as a perfect prodigy. “ That's why we're gravitate towards each other to make up for what we lack. I think we start walking in the right direction only after we are togeth _er.”_

Shisui grinned at him, “And that’s what we are to each other…”  He finished.

Mikoto’s smiled, _‘In the end… our sons become good friends as we hoped, Kushina… I can’t complain.’_

Shisui grinned, “Not that we will stop Sasuke from befriending Naruto.” He assured Mikoto whose eyes softened at her oldest son. “Though… Naruto has this interesting view about kids from his tutoring experience.” There were children in the tower, and Naruto tutored  them from time to time.

At the eager look Mikoto shot them, Shisui answered. “He is idolized by kids in the tower and they trailed after him whenever they get his attention, so he thinks they kinda like puppies that eager to please and learn with short attention span so he had to be creative with them.”

Which explained why Naruto insert some drama this morning when teaching Sasuke’s class, even though Naruto hated drama but he said some drama and mystery always kept kids curious.

“Huh?”

“That’s what happen when people in the tower wants to ensure their future generation’s loyalty to Naruto, and think getting him to babysit them is a wonderful idea.” Shisui rolled his eyes, apparently it was a long standing Uzushio’s tradition for Uzumaki clansmen to babysit their vassal’s children. They had to admit that was one brilliant and manipulative idea to ensure loyalty of future generation.  

Itachi glanced to the side, recalling. “He is good with children, but his incapability to relate to them makes him think they were some sort of alien yet fascinating existence…” Though he liked them fair enough, judging from how eager he was to pamper little Atla and Mu whenever he could.

Mikoto didn’t know what to think that their wish, Kushina’s and hers wouldn’t go like they imagined them to be. “Well… from what I see he seems to like Sasuke fair enough.”

Sasuke was Itachi’s joy but from what Shisui see the younger Uchiha’s interest in Fuuinjutsu played part to get Naruto’s attention. He and Itachi had a rather lackluster interest in Naruto’s art in spite of being his teammate, though Naruto did teach them some fundamental trick to be not completely hopeless at it.

“At any rate Sasuke seems to develop some interest in Fuuinjutsu, do you think Naruto-kun would mind helping your brother, Itachi?” Mikoto pressed on.

Sasuke was going to learn Fuuinjutsu, for real? The brat would have a long way ahead of him. Shisui thought.

“Mikoto, you know that Fuuinjutsu is a dangerous art.” Fugaku interjected.

“Hush, dear husband… have some faith in our son. Sasuke is a hard worker, don’t you see the burn mark on his hands?” She reminded him, “He is working hard to master Goukakyuu no Jutsu, and he keep up with his academy lesson too… he is a determined boy. I am sure Kushina would approve of Sasuke learning her family arts… if he wants to try, let him.” If Kushiha was alive she was sure the Uzumaki would rope her sons to learn with Naruto.

Fugaku’s eyes softened, “If you say so…”

Itachi’s eyes widened, he was so focused in work lately he didn’t know the injury in Sasuke’s hands were from practicing their signature Katon jutsu. He felt guilty, heaving a sigh, Itachi drawled on. “I agree with you Okaa-san, let Sasuke try… I am sure Naruto wouldn’t mind lending a couple of basic material for him to start with.”

Mikoto beamed, “Oh, will Naruto teach Sasuke if he join this Fuuinjutsu foundation class?”

Itachi smiled at her hopeful expression, “On occasion perhaps… their program consist on giving various teachers to teach the class.” Because there were a lot of subjects to cover. “But I think Naruto would be one of the less frequent one…” Or not at all, “He is an active researcher and also combat seal master. He is more on demand in field than in class…”

The Uchiha matriarch frowned at that, “I am glad to hear he is doing very well as seal master.” His parents would be very proud of him, it was a shame Kushina couldn’t teach her son personally. Mikoto knew Kushina wanted to bequeath her clan’s legacy to her son herself. “But I am worried, he is already a Chuunin isn’t he? Getting too busy can’t be good for him…”

“...”

“...”

It was so obvious she wanted to mother their teammate, Itachi and Shisui thought.

Her eyes narrowed at them. “Oh, Naruto-kun is one of those workaholic, isn’t he? Someone who when given a completely day off with no training would find themselves nothing to do…” Mikoto eyed Itachi pointedly.

“He has hobbies…” Shisui offered, ignoring Itachi’s glare because he made it sounded like Itachi didn’t have any.

“Does any of it unrelated to Fuuinjutsu?” Mikoto asked in genial tone.

Shisui paused at that, _‘All his hobbies from gardening, cooking and reading at some extent involves Fuinjutsu.’_ Unfortunately Naruto had this habit to incorporate seals to anything he did, like the latest elemental seal to cook meat with specific heat he made. “Erm… no.”

She sighed wearily, this was what happen when Minato had a son with Kushina indeed. Kushina had this strict rule to not bring work -which meant including Fuuinjutsu- to her kitchen. Minato in the other hand no such restraint. In short hobbies to Naruto one way or another would be work to him, which made their son just slightly better than her Itachi.

“I thought so.” She harrumped, “Bring him over for dinner again as soon as you can… Itachi, Shisui dear…” Mikoto said in motherly tone, a warm smile caressed her lips.

That was not a suggestion, but an order. It seemed from now on dinner with their family was going to be a routine for Naruto whether the Uzumaki liked it or not. When they brought it up the next day, Naruto respond was a flat _What_ and then he asked what Mikoto-obaasan would like to cook next.

Apparently on  single night his mother managed to put the fear of mother’s love in Naruto, the Uzumaki didn’t even think to run and resigned himself to dine with them as part of his routine.

* * *

 

**Few Days Later**

“I come to pick you up for a joint team training!” Shisui announced before he dodged the incoming projectile called taro, courtesy of Atla. “Whooa Atla-kun, watch where you throw that thing!”

The Shiomitsu child glared at him, which was the farthest thing from scary because of his doe like eyes and puffed cheek. He looked as intimidating as a hamster. “Hmph!” It reminded him of Sasuke whenever the younger Uchiha was upset with him for _borrowing_ Itachi.  

Atla was the second youngest Shiomitsu child, with lilac hair and green eyes that Shisui noted was second dominant coloring in the clan. _‘If Uzushio is still standing now, the village must be full of people with brightly colored hair.’_ Konoha had their fair share of bright colored hair but most still have dark coloring native to Hi no Kuni.

“We’re digging sweet potatoes today! And we’re planning to have a lunch together afterward!” Atla told him with a pout. “And you come to take Naruto-sama away for _training_ of all things!” He said it in a tone that suggest Shisui had committed a crime against humanity, and for Atla, it probably was.

Shisui rubbed the back of his head guiltily, “Well, Atla-kun… I am preparing for my jounin’s exam after all.” And he had been delaying it for so long. “And it’s good for Naruto too, after all he wants to get his promotion sooner or later!”

Atla didn’t seem convinced, and continue glaring adorably. It was as effective as lamb’s glare.

_‘Crap, if he glares at me any longer I will lose it.’_ Shisui thought inwardly, shoulders shaking with mirth.

Naruto came just in time, falling in slow motion courtesy of Hikou no Fuuin not far from him and Atla. Not far behind him, Yuzuriha appeared beside him with crane like grace. “Ohayo, I am ready to go now.” He told Shisui before turning towards Atla whose expression had morphed to wide eyed innocent look like a harmless bear cub. “Ah Atla, you are sending me off?”

“Naruto-sama.” Atla cheered as he hugged the Uzumaki’s waist. “Have a safe trip.”

Naruto smiled at the Shiomitsu child, and ruffled his short lilac hair fondly. “Thank you, and have fun today with the others.”

“Hai!” Atla chimed as he reluctantly let go of Naruto.

Naruto turned to Yuzuriha, “Well, then… I am counting on you then. Yuzuriha.”

* * *

 

**Uchiha Main House**

The training ground was closer to Uchiha Compound than to the tower, which was why Shisui opted to pick Naruto up first. He was greeted by the same scene, in which Sasuke was hugging his brother’s neck and begging for Itachi to spend time with him. While Itachi continued putting his shoes on.

“But Nii-san, I want you to teach me Shurikenjutsu!” Sasuke whined. “You promise!”

“I am sorry Sasuke, next time alright? I have a training with my team today.” Itachi twisted his body a little so he could poke his brother on the forehead.

“Auugh.” Sasuke whimpered, holding his forehead.

Shisui grinned sheepishly when Sasuke glared at him and Naruto, “Sorry, Sasuke-kun.” He raised his hand in greeting. “I am borrowing your brother for today.”

“Hmph!” His cheeks puffed like a chipmunk and Shisui struggled to not laugh at the cuteness. “Not fair, Shisui-san. You keep stealing Nii-san.”

“I steal?” Shisui choked out, covering his smiling lips. “Oh my God, twice the dose is too much.” He already got this in the tower and now again?!

Naruto was not helping, “Shisui, if you laugh now he will hate you.” The blond sang, just loud enough for Shisui who was standing beside him to hear but low enough Sasuke didn’t.

Shisui quickly clamped his mouth shut, as Itachi made his way to them but Naruto approached Sasuke closer. The youngest Uchiha looked wary when approached but then Naruto whispered something to him, and Sasuke’s face lighted up in instant.

“Ne?” Shisui couldn’t see Naruto’s face from where he was standing, but he was sure as hell Naruto winked just now.

Sasuke waved his hand enthusiastically at them, “Have a safe trip! Nii-san, Naruto-san! Oh… and Shisui-san too!”

“Why am I an afterthought?!” Shisui protested.

* * *

 

**On the way to Training Ground 37**

“So what did you say to Sasuke?” Itachi asked curiously.

Naruto smirked, “To make up for today, his Nii-san is going to bring him to first Fuuinjutsu class in few days. You will also give him a tour.”

Itachi stared at him long and hard. “Really? I don’t remember I have permission to wander around the tower without you around.” It was a rule in the sealing division, even his teammates weren’t excused from it.

“Maa, student like Sasuke-kun will only be allowed in first floor where their class is…” Fortunately they had plenty of rooms to be turned to a proper classroom. “And on first day we will just cover some rules and giving them some idea of what to expect in class so afterward you can borrow our training ground to teach him those shurikenjutsu I don’t know how long you have promised to teach to him…”

Itachi looked sheepish at the last part, “I understand… but-”

Naruto frowned at him, “You think we didn’t notice?”

“Eh?”

Shisui rolled his eyes, “That you always try to avoid teaching Sasuke-kun advanced stuff, and seriously… what gives you the idea if you do, you’re turning Sasuke-kun to second you?”

Itachi blushed red at that, embarrassed he was caught by his friends. “I am just…”

“And do you forget who was teaching you all those advanced stuff for academy students?” He pointed at himself. “And I did because you want to get stronger.”  Shisui added, scoffing. “Sasuke-kun is not you, and not turning to you just because you teach him some techniques.”

Naruto chuckled softly, “That’s so adorable of you though, protecting your brother from expectation of your clan…” Itachi frowned at him. “But, I think you shouldn’t ignore that Sasuke-kun want… even if you think what he wants is not good for him.”

“…Perhaps, maybe what I did is not helping Sasuke after all.”

Shisui nodded, “I am glad you reconsider, just start on helping Sasuke to achieve his dream. It’s a great start, don’t you think?”

Itachi smiled at Shisui, “Yes… and Shisui, I think you will make a great jounin.”

Shisui beamed, “Is that so?”

Naruto smiled indulgingly at the shushin expert, “I agree, you have been delaying your jounin exam for a long while even though you’ve earned recommendation. Still… is it true some of these joint exercise is a hidden jounin exam?”

“Maa… it’s just rumor, but unlike Chuunin exam that is a spectacle our Jounin exam is more discreet.” Shisui explained. “The Chuunin tested wouldn’t know it’s a test.”

“Heee…” The seal master hummed, “I suppose that make sense to be discreet, Jounin are highly-experienced shinobi with great individual skill who serve as military captains after all…”

“In general Jounin is also expected to be able to use at least two types of elemental chakra, proficient in genjutsu, and decent taijutsu skills.“ Itachi listed on.

Shisui frowned, “Hm… by right Itachi will be qualified soon, you just don’t have enough mission recorded in regular force yet to be recommended as for Naruto…” He trailed off.

“What about me? While I took a lot of mission than most…” Courtesy of being a seal master on high demand and not minding taking a lion share of outside job. “I am not in hurry for another promotion, beside, my mastery of Suiton is still so-so… my proficiency in genjutsu end in dispelling them with _help_ and to get to jounin level of taijutsu I am still too young.”

That was the downside of taijutsu, no matter how talented your body still had to mature to master it.

“No, I mean… haven’t you passed requirement for Tokubetsu Jounin for Fuuinjutsu long time ago?” Shisui pointed out. “I mean… with widely used your seals nowadays in our force.”

“I suppose.” Naruto shrugged, “But there is no point for another promotion, if all I get is more privilege in my division. I mean… I am an Uzumaki.” He already had plenty of privilege as a seal master. “Never mind about me, there we go… Training Ground 37.”

* * *

 

**Training Ground 37**

It was one of training ground that was far different than typical forested or meadow available in Konohagakure, a swamp forest with trees up to two hundred feet tall but thinner trunk, shrubs and moss. That meant the tree was not for perching, hopping on them would need more chakra control to not break the trunk or the tree would launch you like catapult. There were few areas like this in Hi no Kuni, making this training ground an unpopular choice.    

Shisui whistled, “Plenty of hiding place but mobility is severely limited, hiding your tracks is also difficult.” Because one careless step on soft soil you would leave a nice footprint behind.

Itachi agreed. “Not to mention there was plenty of moss on trees that also would give away our track.”

“And the water is full of crocodiles too…” Naruto pointed at the river where a bird that landed on floating log found the log was very much alive with a set of deadly teeth.

“Aha ha ha… sometimes I wonder why we never get complain from civilians about these dangerous guys wandering to their bathtub?” Shisui beamed.

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Thanks Mito-sama for that, she and her sealing squad warded all training ground containing dangerous animals so they didn’t get out of their habitat by accident.”

“…Ne, Naruto.”

“What?”

“Your division is underappreciated… aren’t they?” Considering general population thought they were scholar rather than shinobi most of the time, and most of their role in Konoha was overlooked. “And overworked.” Between their routinely job for their village, their own research and commercial mission outside. It was no wonder Sealing Division drank coffee like water.

“What gives you that impression?” Naruto wondered sarcastically. “Beside-“

Their conversation was halted when they sensed more shinobi coming to the training ground. From the number, it was two more three-man cell. Unlike Shisui team who came early, they arrived just right in time.

“Yo!” Shisui raised his hand in greeting when a red eyed chuunin appeared with shushin before them, followed by her teammates. “Kurenai, Aoba, Hayase.”

The kunoichi named Kurenai zeroed in to Naruto in instance, “This joint exercise is exclusively for Chuunin, right?”

Shisui rolled his eyes, “My teammates are all chuunin including the chibi number two-oof!” That comment earned him two elbows on his side, courtesy of his ‘chibi’ teammates.

“The chibi part is unneeded.” Naruto grumbled before he inclined his head slightly in greeting. “Ohayo, I am Uzumaki Naruto… nice to meet you.”

He didn’t sense any negative feeling coming from them, aside from bewilderment perhaps. They also most likely were mentally counting how many years had passed since Kyuubi’s attack and came up with single digit number 9.

“Nice to meet you too, Naruto-kun. I am Yuuhi Kurenai.” Her teammates followed her example, they tried to be subtle but they looked bewildered at the sight of him and Itachi.

The next team arrived via shushin, and Naruto recognized one of them, Iwashi who was also part of Yondaime’s guards. He was also a seal master in study, and well on his way to get his certification together with other members of Hokage guards. The other two were regular Chuunin he saw on occasion guarding the west gate.  Kotatsu… or Kosatsu something? He remembered the other had the same name as member of HOMRA though, Izumo or Yata?

“Naruto-kun.” He inclined his head in greeting. “You’re joining us too huh?”

“Ah yes, since Shisui is my teammate.” He craned his neck at beaming Shisui. “It’s my first time in join training, please take care of me.”

Iwashi nodded, while inwardly he was sighing. He had joined one training session with Sealing Division, so he already had a taste of standing in opposite side of this team of prodigy. Shisui’s team was a nightmare.  He fervently hoped whatever this training or exam -he didn’t care which- entailed it was not a straight combat or shinobi version of hide and seek.

“Well, Naruto-“

Only to find the spot the Uzumaki occupied seconds ago was empty, and he was already inspecting ward seal surrounding the training ground for who knows since when. Then he realized the rest of Shisui’s team was already by Naruto’s side.

Kurenai’s left eye twitched, “Well, if we doubt he is not a genin or academy student before… when did he, no, when did they move?”

Iwashi didn’t know about Itachi and Shisui, but for Naruto? He blames Yondaime Hokage, by nine years old the kid was already so damn fast, it must be genetic. Then again the old team To was chasing the kid since he was old enough to walk. Go figures…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Naruto is being workaholic here,  
> Sasuke and Atla are adorable ducklings to their brother figure and Shisui... poor Shisui.  
> BTW I just realize that Shisui's birthday is just... eight days after Naruto's. I have to make an omake about that SOON  
> BTW IWashi is third member of Hokage's platoon who also know how to do Hiraishin with Genma and Raidou. All of them now is finishing their foundation to get their qualification in the Tower, and also checking on Naruto from time to time just to know if the kid is still alive LOL


	20. Chapter 20

**20th Legacy:**

**“** _Definition of talented in Fuuinjutsu is basically how good you’re at making your failures count and turn it to success… so most of us,_   
_seal masters are sore loser who loath to leave failure as failure…”_ **  
Uzumaki Naruto**

 

Kurenai felt sorry for the jinchuuriki, just that and no more.. Sure, her father was killed in line of duty that night, and it still left pain in her heart when recalling the last time she saw him.  But she was not an ungrateful person like some fools in Konoha who couldn’t see Uzumaki Naruto was a human first, comrade and then jinchuuriki

When she saw him with his Uchiha teammates, Kurenai could guess why they were with him. She didn’t think they were using him though. She had heard whispers of Uchiha being responsible for Kyuubi attack, but she knew it was unlikely true because then she wouldn’t see Uchiha police force guiding civilians to shelter that night. She also saw a member of Uchiha police died to protect a civilian from flying debris courtesy of Kyuubi. 

Uchiha was a tight knit clan, they wouldn’t let their clansmen died if they staged the attack.    

So that left one alternative, they were in his team to keep him and his tenant in line. Such a life of jinchuuriki, a jailor that in the same time was also imprisoned by their own village. He was just nine years old, a chuunin at nine during peace period. Even  _ that  _ Kakashi got to chuunin because it was war period. Even clan children aside from main family had choice to be civilian or shinobi, this boy however… that right had been taken by the night he was shouldered by his burden as jinchuuriki. 

Still… does this boy have it in him? The skill of a chuunin? She could tell other than Iwashi-san, none of participant of this training was sure of his skill. 

Whoosh!

CLANK! 

Kurenai took all her doubt back, all of them. She had tried to sneak behind the boy with her favorite genjutsu, and aimed to knock him out of the game but he quickly noticed the genjutsu but instead of disturbing his chakra flow a little like normal shinobi would, he unleashed a wave of chakra large enough to push her ten feet away. Then before she could recover, he closed the distance and their kunai met in a clash. 

“Kuh!” Kurenai gritted her teeth.  _ ‘What strength…’  _ It was unnerving to see those warm blue eyes shifted to colder steel like shade. Aoba appeared not far behind him silently, and his eyes shifted slightly.  _ ‘He is a sensor?’  _

Without a warning a chain made of chakra shot up from his back and Aoba was forced to back away before it could whip him across his face, but Aoba was unaware he was led straight to Uchiha Shisui. The Uchiha however didn’t move from his perch on the tree, Sharingan spinning lazily and Aoba suddenly fell as clutching his head. 

“Aoba!” Kurenai cried.

Then suddenly she felt a light tap on her neck and everything became dark. 

When she became conscious, she was awaken to the sight of her teammates groaning as rubbing their heads. Iwashi was shrugging while Kotetsu-Izumo combi looked plain confused, and Kurenai guessed they were another victim of Shisui’s or perhaps Itachi’s genjutsu. 

She sighed wearily, she prided herself as an expert in genjutsu but Uchiha Shisui was the one who got the nickname ‘Shinkirou’ and he was far above her. Still… 

Shisui made a peace sign at her, grinning widely.  _ ‘I admire his skill but he is so annoying…’  _ Clenching her fist, returning his grin with a strained smile. 

His teammates, Itachi was shaking his head exasperatedly while Uzumaki Naruto… The boy was holding the flag of her team and Iwashi’s with faraway look she couldn’t comprehend. He looked like a child for once, twirling the flag idly as if he couldn’t decide what to do with them. 

Kotetsu, one of the Chuunin approached the jinchuuriki. “Oh yeah, about Gogyou Juujika Shuriken I used, why it went bust when you guys targeted the center?” 

The blond perked up, “Ah, that… to compensate the lack of hole for us to put our index finger, the layer of metal there is thinner and curved in.” He laughed sheepishly, “So when pierced with chakra enhanced weapon with opposing nature, the stabilizer layer kicked in.” 

“It have that kind of weakness?” Izumo whistled, “Still, can it be called a weakness?” He pointed the center part of his shuriken, “It’s so small and this projectile is moving in high speed… while it’s hard to dodge the elemental attack, it’s easier than aiming this small part.” 

Shisui tilted his head to the side in confusion, “Really? I find it easier to aim that weak part… more stamina efficient for me.” 

“I think so too.” Itachi chimed in. 

No one bothered to point out that was only easy for them because of Sharingan. 

“Naruto-kun, you know quite a lot about this shuriken.” Kurenai herself liked the seal enhanced shuriken because it was efficient and versatile. “Did you assist the seal master who designed it?” 

Blue eyes blinked at her in confusion. “Eh?” 

Uchiha Shisui answered her, “It’s Naruto’s design… and that’s why we know that shuriken is not sturdy in that part, we’re the one who tested it after all.” He sighed dramatically, “And what a painful and long test it was… you take so damn long to decide the final design. It would be a loooong while until I deign to help you with seal to enhance weapon again, it’s so troublesome.” 

“To be fair, it’s more expensive than usual seal… and because the traditional design of shuriken is modified we have to worry about weight, durability and aerodynamic…” He huffed indignantly. “But I agree… I am not designing another seal like that anytime soon.” He muttered weakly recalling the process of redoing design for shuriken, and the safety mechanism so it won’t blow up on their weapon pouch by accident. 

Kurenai was amazed, after all Gogyou Juujika no Fuuin was the most widely used seal since explosive and storage seal were invented. The only drawbacks were it took a while to get used to it, it was heavier than normal shuriken so it threw their muscle memory off a little. It was also very expensive, three times the price of normal shuriken.  

“Naruto-kun.” Iwashi called the younger shinobi who was spacing out for quite a while. “Good fight, your teamwork is as impressive as always.” 

She admitted Iwashi was right, at first they seemed to be all over the place but they somehow in sync regardless. Their strategy was especially unorthodox, but efficient, she had never seen kawarimi used in tandem with kage bunshin so effectively and mixed with subtle genjutsu that ensnare them to trap. 

“Ah, thank you Iwashi-san.” 

“By the way, you should try for Tokubetsu Jounin soon right? You already have enough skill to be one.” 

Tokubetsu Jounin? Already? 

The blond just laughed sheepishly, “Ah about that, Hakurei-shishou hasn’t given his permission yet.” 

“Eeh? Why? Is it because he think you’re too young? Hakurei-sama didn’t against you getting promoted to Chuunin before.” He inclined his head towards Itachi and Shisui. “And you guys too, it’s just about time you guys get promoted to Jounin… especially Shisui-kun.”

He shrugged, “Maa, since I am a specialist in obscure art like Fuuinjutsu… rank doesn’t matter much if some mission require my service.” 

Iwashi nodded sagely, “Ah, right…”  

He smiled at Iwashi, a seemingly genuine smile but Kurei couldn’t read him at all. “I will earn my promotion when I deserve it.”     

* * *

**Sealing Tower**

He didn’t know since when he could feel it, the hum of chakra in their surrounding. The so called nature chakra, energy that was floating around since Rikudo Sennin era, abundant and free. He was not conscious of them all the time, but the absence was prominent when he was inside chakra-sterile barrier like this. The air felt lighter, empty and cold…

Lifeless… 

He was told that meant he had a natural aptitude to be a sage, a lot of his clan members were sensitive to natural chakra. Which explained a lot, it was genetic heritage. Though he wondered if his chakra leaning heavily to Yang nature -which explained by his crappy affinity for genjutsu- was another genetic quirk of Uzumaki clan. Yang chakra, energy that breathed life to form. 

“Young master, relax…” Shion’s calming voice snapped him back to reality, “We’re crafting seal that connected to your chakra path, so we need you to be calm and relax.” 

He must be scrunching his face just now, which was why Shion was worried his mind was troubled or something. “Naah… just thinking about my strong affinity for Yang chakra. I can’t help but wonder if it’s really genetic quirk common in my clan or-” 

Shion coughed, “Actually young master… while I was born in Konoha, I am pretty sure that vegetable and crops in Uzushio never tried to escape us from harvesting them.” 

“I wonder if in spring, our cabbage will fly somehow…” 

Shion sweat-dropped, “While I am glad you’re not thinking anything stressful, young master… I don’t think we want to see flying vegetable.” 

Hakurei snorted, “Why not, it will be a good workout.” 

He tuned out their argument, eyes wandered over the circular room where the seal formula had taken over the whole room. Because of his position, laying on the center he could only see part of them.  _ ‘Huwaa… some of parts of this seal are using glyphs based on Sanskrit from Rikudo Sennin’s era…’  _

This was the first time he saw a seal with composite glypt, in which the larger seal was composed of smaller seal that was using different writing system and adding more complexity and stability to the mechanism. Like a machine with parts made of different material best suited for each of it.  

For example Niidaime’s hiraishin was using sanskrit like Kuchiyose, but his father’s version was pure kanji. Which was strange way of recreation to start all over using completely different glypt. Though from war stories he heard from Hakurei and memories of his father, there didn’t seem to be any significant difference between the two versions. 

He really had to study other glypt, not just standard kanji characters. While kanji was the most common and stable form of writing in Fuuinjutsu there were other kinds of glypt, less common but with its own versatility. He was getting a hang of sankrit, and considering the third glypt. Which maybe could help him to finish that seal he wanted. 

But which? There was no point wasting learning new writing system if it got him to nowhere, right? “So… I am thinking to add another writing system to my repertoire after sankrit, maybe Nüshu?” 

“While it’s good to distract yourself because you’re bored.” Like all people would when laying on the ground half-naked while seal masters around you were busy. “Naruto-sama, thinking stressful things like work is not something I recommend you to do.” 

_ Yes, remember Naruto, you can’t stress yourself out until this seal was finished _ . He had been very tired to get this warning all the time, he was fed up. Though at last he got explanation of what this Satori Hakurei fretted about.

Not that Hakurei had a choice but spill.

* * *

 

_ Flashback to the day before…  _

_ It was just another day, or rather it felt like it. Though to be honest he had unusual start of the day, he felt exhausted. Being both Uzumaki and jinchuuriki gave him seemingly unlimited stamina, but as proven countless time he had his limit. For the first time that month he exhausted himself, three days straight all-nighter on attempting to create teleportation seal.  _

_ A seal which perhaps too advanced for a 4th Dan seal master, but he figured the need to be able to get out of stickiest situation was a pressing need for him. As pointed out by Shisui, strategical retreat was important and in Naruto’s case he had to work harder to survive because of his unique status. Especially since as much as Naruto prided himself for his accomplishment in tender age of nine he had a very long way to go to survive against Madara or whoever it was who managed to fight on equal ground with his father in that fateful night.  _

_ So far he had met more trouble than he ever had, and even more failures on the road. It made him realized that he was overestimating his effort so far, that while… yes, he was a hard worker, but he was also a very talented hard worker so in comparison to other seal master he didn’t work harder than they did to achieve the same result.  _

_ So for the first time he hit an invisible wall he didn’t how to scale it. It was stressful and he was tempted to pull his hair out or something to alleviate his frustration. And also the headache… it started to become a routine. Kurama was also getting frustrated because according to the bijuu, he was not sick and that headache was just headache so Kurama couldn’t help him.   _

_ He did nothing sort of getting himself premature balding course, he had an image to keep. Beside he kinda had to wander around the tower a little to show his face. Because as much as he liked his privacy his subordinates would start asking if he didn’t show his face at least once a day. So he grin and bear it, literally. It was just headache, not worth worrying people around him to death.  _

_ He just had to catch some snooze and he would be as good as new. Not now though... _

_ “Naruto-sama! Hurry!” Seven years old Atla squealed in high pitched voice, which almost made him grimace. Atla’s voice was not that high, but it sounded like it was because of his headache.  _

_ “Slow down Atla…” He let the two young boys to drag him outside. “The field is not going anywhere, and I am sure we planted plenty for everyone!”  _

_ Sealing Division might be the smallest shinobi division in Konoha, but due to Uzumaki clan’s status rival that of founding clans like Uchiha and Senju, they received a larger than necessary plot of land in Konoha which was why they had their own training ground and field to grow crops. _

_ Mu, the youngest Shiomitsu at the age of three had his hand in iron grip. “But sweet potato’ ll go somewhere! Naruto-sama’s seal made them run!”  _

_ In hope to increase the quality of their crops, Naruto propose to put the same seal he used on his garden.  _

_ Some of seal masters were worried but they supposed the crops wouldn’t be as active as Naruto-sama’s plants, maybe wiggling a little from time to time but in their profession it was not the strangest thing happening. So they let him do it, and the result?  _

_ Sure the taste and health of the crops increased tremendously, and nowadays they didn’t even need to care for it too much.  There was one tiny little problem. Apparently because Naruto didn’t take care of them personally and most seal masters tend to their field as some sort of hobby, the plant didn’t love them so whenever it was about time they were ripe for harvest the vegetables tried to flee.  _

_ As is saying  ‘Like hell, we will let you eat us without a fight.’ _

_ It seemed today the of sweet potatoes had uprooted themselves from earth, root and everything before hopping out of their field. They managed to erect a barrier to stop their crops from going too far but It seemed the crops won’t go down without a fight.  _

_ “Atla! Mu!” Yuzuriha shrieked in horror as the one tough sweet potato attempted to strangle the boys.  _

_ “Someone! Kill it!”  _

_ Naruto looked around him, frowning when he realized there was a lot of civilians today. All of them also refugees from Uzu, some had married to Shinobi part of Tower population but majority stayed civilian and tend to their field and other job so sealmaster could focus on their job and maintaining Tower’s self-sufficiency.  _

_ He rarely saw them though, because his quarter in highest level was off limits to them. Maybe he should say hi, or something.  _

_ “Naruto-chama!!!” Mu called him. “This is so fun!”  _

_ He took his eyes off of them for one moment and Mu already gotten himself hanged upside down by a sweet potato plant. “That’s called dangerous, not fun, Mu…” One of these days he really should teach the kids how to tell ‘dangerous’ and ‘fun’ apart. “How did you get yourself up there?” He wondered as he stomped on the wriggling plant and cut the vine tied around Mu’s waist. Mu giggled as he wrapped his arms around Naruto’s neck before the blond set him down.  _

_ The sweet potato even tried to strangle them when they tried to harvest the root. It had been a common occurrence, as just last summer the tomato while not trying to run decided their farmers were good target practice. And the corn tried to flatten them with fruit like it was Uchiha’s standard police stick.   _

_ They let the seal be though, since strangling those crops was surprisingly a good exercise. A small comfort was no matter how lively, dosed with Yang chakra those crops would never develop ability to scream. After all they had no vocal cord.  _

_ Naruto’s argument to that,  ‘Even if pigs squeal, I don’t see it stopping you from butchering them.’  _

_ ‘This is so fun.’  _

_ He blinked owlishly, looking around only to see Mu and Atle tackling a plant and squealing as they tore through the root for their prize. Yuzuriha and Tokusa were pretty far for him to hear them saying anything. But just now… he rubbed his ears, it felt like someone was whispering and giggling to his ears.  _

_ Yuzuriha approached him, carrying a huge basket of sweet potato. “Naruto-sama! Look!”  _

_ “Ah, they looks tasty indeed.”  _

_ Yuzuriha raised an eyebrow, “Then-”  _

_ ‘Naruto-sama looks unwell today? Perhaps he is already hungry?’  _

_ Naruto blinked again, confused. “I am not hungry.” It was unusual of Yuzuriha to be so forward. “But thank you for your con-” He paused, Yuzuriha was blushing.  _

_ “I… I didn’t say anything like that, Naruto-sama! Am I that obvious?” She stuttered.  _

_ “What? But you did-” Naruto began.  _

_**‘Kyaaa! Kyaa! So embarrassing! Naruto-sama can read me like an open book! By Rikudo Sennin’s beard, he didn’t realize my feeling yet, I hope!’** _

_ The blond covered his ears, just now it was so loud. Since when Yuzuriha scream like that at him?! “You don’t have to shout Yuzuriha… I can hear you just fine. Since when you’re using Rikudo Sennin’s name like that, and what feeling?”  _

_ At this point Yuzuriha had turned as red as tomato, basket of sweet potato fell to the ground and her legs were shaking. “I didn’t say anything!!!” She wailed as running away, leaving a very confused Naruto.  _

_ “Yu… Yuzuriha! Wait!”  _

_ ‘I never thought we have to strangle a plant to get to our food.’ _

_ He whirled around only to see the two Shiomitsu boys piling purple sweetness on their basket, and they were singing something about sweet potato and baking them with butter. “Na na na~”  _

_ “Erm… Mu? Atla? Did you say something?”  _

_ Twin pair of purple eyes blinked at him innocently, “No, we didn’t…” Atla answered and Mu quickly added. “Naruto-chama, you don’t like digging sweet potato?” Looking at his empty hands.  _

_ Naruto laughed nervously, “Ah… I think it’s fun, I will start right away.”  _

_ “Naruto-sama.” A muffled voice called him, and Naruto turned around to see Tokusa with a masker over his mouth carrying a huge basket full of sweet potato on his back. “Isn’t that Aneki’s basket? Why did she leave it here?”  _

_ Oh right, Tokusa was still recovering from his cold.  _

_ He smiled sheepishly, “Well… I think I made her upset for some reason, where is she?” He didn’t get what’s going on but Yuzuriha was upset so… “I should apologize.”  _

_ Tokusa snorted, “Nah… don’t worry Aneki’s mood swing is like pregnant woman sometime. Just leave her be, later she will bounce back on her own. If anything she should be sorry for making you worry.”  _

_ ‘I will never do that to Naruto-sama! After all I’m your most loyal vassal, as loyal as a dog.’  _

_ “There you go again, I told you comparing yourself to do-” He stopped on his track, clamping his mouth shut in instant.  ‘Just now…. Tokusa’s voice wasn’t muffled but he is still wearing his masker? So what the heck did I hear just now.’  _

__ “Naruto-sama?” Tokusa asked in worry,    
“You’re getting pale… maybe you should take a nap.”    
‘How strange… Naruto-sama never got sick.’ 

_ He rubbed his ears, he must be hallucinating or something. Tokusa’s voices were overlapping and yet his mouth didn’t match the voice echoing in his mind. “My ears feels strange…” Or rather his head to be exact.  _

_ “Naruto-sama?”  _

_ A group of civilian carrying their crops approached them, “Ara… what’s wrong with young master?” A middle aged woman asked.  ‘He looks pale, cold perhaps?’  _

_ “Should young master even do this kind of menial labor?” Someone from the crowd asked.  ‘It’s not proper.’  _

_ “Tokusa-san, perhaps young master need some rest.”  ‘Such a young boy shouldn’t be outside when he is not feeling well.’  _

_ ‘This morning.’ ‘So tired’ ‘Who said just yesterday.’ ‘Our harvest this year’ ‘Don’t play with-’ ‘Heavy’ ‘Some-  bring- -that-’ ‘Di- bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘ Di- bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘Di- bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘- bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘No- bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘ bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘ Bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘Bla bla- see- bla bla- ‘Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… But he- Pst- pst… Pst- pst…’ Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst…’ Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Naruto-sama… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst…’ Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Oi! Someone! Pst- pst…’ Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… What the~ Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst…’  _

_ He began to sweat, the echoing voices in his head was getting louder. So many whispers he could barely make out spiraling in his mind nonstop, and now he couldn’t even hear what they actually said any longer. Tokusa’s mouth was moving and he looked panic as he reached out for Naruto.  ‘Why Tokusa… Mu and Atla looks so-’  _

_**‘Naruto!’** _

_ “NARUTO-SAMA!”  _

_ “Medic! Someone call our medic!”  _

_ “Inform Hakurei-sama right away!”  _

_ He was still conscious, but his head was buzzing with noises. Why he couldn’t move? There was no pain or anything that stopped him from moving, but his body won’t listen to him. He was awake but his body was not, why?  _

_ Why?  _

_ Kurama! Kurama! Help!  _

_ “Hurry! Shion you slowpoke!”  _

_ “I just arrive, Otou-san! Give me some time to prepare!”  _

_ His eyes were unfocused, all he could see was blurry image of someone with greying hair -Hakurei- looking down at him. “Sleep! Sleep Naruto-sama…” _

_ Bla  Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla  _

_ Sleep sounded like a good idea, but Hakurei… it was too noisy here… made these noises stop!  _

_**“You should make it stop!”** _

_ His eyes snapped open and he was greeted by familiar cage and flooded sewer that was hos mind-scape. “Kurama… what-” He coughed, spitting water on his mouth. “Haa ah… “ Kurama was here, he got through Kurama! He was not alone.  _

_**“Don’t you Kurama- me!”** The nine tailed fox snarled,  **“If there is anything good about this cage, it’s quiet and my limbs are quite free! Now it’s the noisiest place I have ever been for the last ten centuries!”** The fox growled, holding his long ears down.  _

_ “Huh?” Naruto was greeted by sound of whispering and disembodied voice echoing in the sewer, it was not as loud as before but still annoying and disorienting. “What the hell? What’s happening?Kurama?!”  _

_**“You tell me!”** Kurama pointed a clawed finger at him,  **“Which idiot botched ninshuu like you? You freaking open your mind to people’s thought without proper practice, now all these random thought flooded your mind!”** _

_ Naruto belatedly realized the water was deeper than usual, he could barely see the bottom while usually it was knee length. Now he could swim in the sewer. “I botched what?” _

_**“Ninshu.”** _

_ That was a familiar term, oh right… Rikudo Sennin’s religion. “Since when I can do Ninshu?” He couldn’t help but wonder. “And since when Ninshu made people hearing voices? Am I going mad?!” He wondered with a touch of hysteria in his voice.  _

_**“Other than the crazily brilliant trait you inherited from your clan, I am pretty sure you’re very much sane. So no, you’re not going mad…”** _

_ Typical of Kurama to insert sarcasm even when comforting someone.  _

_**“No! It’s not like I am comforting you or anything! I am just stating a fact!!!”** _

_ What was the term Shisui mentioned about this kind of routine again? Oh yes, Tsundere. “You just hate being honest about your feeling, Kurama… that’s why  we love you.” We as in his team.  _

_**“RAWR!”** Kurama roared at him, and he almost washed away by the mini tsunami the fox made if not for water walking.  “ **I am not this tsun-whatever! I am not! I am not!!! Baka Naruto!”** _

_ Amazing how Kurama was reduced to calling him baka instead of making witty and sarcastic remark when embarrassed. “Hai hai… enough teasing, back to the matter at hand.” Thanks to Kurama, his panic episode ended as quickly as it came. “I am pretty sure I don’t know how to practice Ninshu, his descendant or not.” _

_**“That jerk Indra botched Ninshuu magnificently the first time around…”** _

_ “I get it already! All I know about Ninshuu is from you and you’re very stingy to share about it!” Naruto stick his tongue out. “Anyway… certain someone has warned me that hearing voice is not a sign of insanity.”  _

_ That tanuki-uncle of his was really… and he wondered why Benitora was still on rebellion phase and pulling home-runaway at the age of nineteen.  _

_**“Don’t care… just stop the noise, at this rate I am going to contemplating killing us all with breaking the seal before I go mad!”** _

_ Naruto couldn’t help but agreed these noises were driving him up to the wall. He closed his eyes and when he opened his eyes again he was back to real world. Hakurei were not far, gulping nervously. He didn’t fail to note he was inside a barrier that block chakra from outside.  _

_He glared at Hakurei, “I think you owe me an explanation about Satori you have delayed for too long to my liking, and I doubt enlightenment consist of hearing voices in my head.” Hakurei opened his mouth but interjected by Naruto. “I am not questioning my sanity, thank you for the warning, I want explanation and you better start talking now.”_

_ “Naruto-sama, I don’t mean to-”  _

_ “Now , Hakurei.”  _

End of Flashback

* * *

 

And that’s how he knew Satori, which as Kurama said… was some sort of botched Ninshuu. 

Satori was a mystical phenomenon by which a person directly experiencing their own higher consciousness, and in that moment of heightened awareness one is directly open to the energy generated by all living things, the sum of all creation and its flow in the world. Giving the possessor if Satori to see through a person’s heart. Even without speaking aloud user’s able to know what any person is thinking.  However unlike Yamanaka clan, rather than penetrate a mind, it’s actually more like naturally receiving thoughts. 

His own thought about the so called bloodline limit or was it affinity? Defect? Why did he has to inherit such a troublesome thing?! It couldn’t even turned off! He couldn’t tell actual speech and thought apart! It was out of control all the time and gave him immense headache in awakening phase! 

Even Kurama was sorry for him,  **_‘Sounds like an uncontrollable practice of Ninshu , what the heck did your grandfather do to himself?’_ **

The sage exemplified his teachings by distributing chakra meant to " _ connect _ " people's spiritual energies with one another. It would allow people to understand each other without communication and pray for one another's safety. So like Kurama said, Satori was basically a botched Ninshu, because while it enabled him to  hear whatever a person is thinking of saying as actual speech, it was a one-way thing. 

It was also a shallow ability considering the user could only knows what a person is thinking on the surface but they can’t hear anything deeper than that.  Strong thoughts are like shouts, unfocused ones are like whispers. Not everything is sent over, and in the end Satori, as ironic as its naming was… it didn’t give understanding of each other and if anything was invasive. 

So was it useful? Considering that one time he accidentally overwhelming himself with negative thought and had a panic attack, scaring Itachi and Shisui in the process… 

HELL NO! If anything it was a pain in the ass, and Kurama’s natural detector of negative intent on top of it was not helping. “We don’t know how effective Muramasa’s seal for you, Naruto-sama… considering your jinchuuriki status and Kurama-san’s latent ability.” 

Even if the seal to control Satori’s ability to receive thought worked on his grandfather, it might not work properly on him. “I get it… I get…” 

_ I am worried about Naruto-sama… _

_ Is he alright?  _

“Erm… you guys know I can hear you, right?” He pointed out, wincing. 

Hakurei chuckled softly, “Ah, We let our mind wander… it’s alright Naruto-sama. Satori can’t hear everything… and most experienced ninja naturally develop a mind that reject Satori invading their thought.” 

Badump!

“Ah yes… nothing to be scared about.” He lied through his teeth. 

**_“Damn it Naruto! Calm down, you’re stressing yourself again!”_ **  Kurama snarled on the depth of his mind,  **_“Thought can’t hurt you! Don’t think they can harm you! I won’t allow it! Get a hold on yourself.”_ **

_ ‘Yes… I know Kurama…’ _ It was a lie to say he was not scared at all, after all he always thought the villagers could hate him all they wanted and they couldn’t hurt him more than they already did. But Satori made that pain became more real to him to the point he couldn’t ignore them.   

‘Young master… we’re activating the seal now! Brace yourself.” Shion said as he hand Naruto a stick wrapped in tower to bite on. 

When seal that was connected to your chakra path was activated, the chakra of seal master would invade your system and unlike medical chakra it was painful. 

_ “Kurama… don’t resist it, alright?” _

**“** **_Yeah, yeah… I know~ let the chakra inside no matter how uncomfortable and keep the amount of my chakra in your system at bare minimum so I didn’t accidentally wash the chakra out~”_ ** Kurama was totally rolling his eyes, Naruto knew he did. 

Clap! 

“Let’s begin.” Hakurei gave him a nod and Naruto braced himself for the pain.  **“** **_Tenpōrin'in no Fuuin! Hatsudou!”_ ** Then the Shiomitsu channelled the chakra, and the whole room lighted up by the seal. 

Naruto bit down a cry, the pain was worse than usual because the seal also touching the tenketsu and chakra path on his head. Pain was pain but the worse path was feeling something foreign invading your body, it was not pleasant. 

“It’s done, young master…” 

Naruto opened his eyes, looking up in hope he could see the seal. Shion approached him and gave him a hand mirror. His reflection staring back at him, in his forehead was a compressed formula on the shape of the seal reminded him of lotus, or was it a sun? For his manly pride’s sake he hoped it to be the latter. 

**_“Oi, Naruto… there are lotus flower growing in the water now. I have not been informed you’re going to decorate my place.”_ **

Naruto took a quick look at his mindscape and to his horror, in front of Kurama’s cage and some of them had flown over pass the bar, there were lotus flowers growing all over the flooded sewer that was his mindscape.  _ ‘To be fair I have no plan in decorating, but hey! At least it’s an improvement for your living place!’  _

Kurama eyed the white flower -thank Sage it was not pink at least- that had washed into his cage.  **_‘Rather than flower… I want open sky and cool earth.’_ **

_ ‘I get it! I get it! I will think of some why to get some control over my mindscape!’  _ Kurama had been easily in sulking mood lately. He looked down on the mirror to see his forehead had been seal free, it was fortunate  **_Tenpōrin'in no Fuuin_ ** was the type that could be hidden. 

Hakurei cleared his throat and waited. 

Naruto blinked owlishly before saying, “I can’t hear you.” 

He beamed, “It’s a success! Then, Naruto-sama… would you like to try to loosen the seal so you-” 

“Absolutely not.” He refused, tying his headband. “It’s been a month and the headache at last stopped, I don’t feel like hearing voices whenever I go!” Yesterday it had been bad, he was helping other seal master to harvest the sweet potato and he learned his fellow seal masters were very creative when it comes to revenge. 

They didn’t even care sweet potato had no pain receptor, most thing he overheard yesterday were disturbing. Especially the part where Kagari was planning to roast a sweet potato and made the plant watched him eating it. He knew it was normal to eat them, but the thought it was like letting someone to watch you eating their toes didn’t leave him. 

The following headache felt like it was going to split his head open. Thankfully Itachi and Shisui were on mission so they didn’t know, and he didn’t need them hovering over him because of this. He would tell them about it later of course, after informing them it was under control first. 

“Hakurei, do I have anything to do today?” He wanted a distraction, the sooner he could forget ever having this troublesome bloodline limit the better. While he respected his heritage, Satori was more troublesome than its worth. 

Hakurei blinked, “Eh… I believe you’ve been invited to Nara clan’s compound for tea. No specific date, but we have been requested to send a reply on when it’s convenient for you. Aburame clan did too…” 

Nara and Aburame, what could make them-  _ Oh shit.  _

“I should have kept my mouth shut… maybe, or maybe not.” Naruto grumbled, at teh questioning look from Shion and Hakurei he added. “ No, I am not sure they’re happy or unhappy with us.” 

Hakurei was giving him an odd look, “Pardon me, young master but what did you do to make Aburame Shibi and Nara Shikaku to feel the need to invite you for tea?” 

He shrugged, “I guess it’s something to do with me honestly answering Nara Shikamaru’s question whether or not it’s possible to replicate his clan’s Hiden (secret tradition) with Fuuinjutsu.” 

“Young master… that’s-” Shion trailed off. 

“I know… but if this Nara child planning to learn Fuuinjutsu, he will find out sooner or later that yes… Fuuinjutsu could replicate most ninjutsu, even Hiden…” and elemental bloodline limit to an extent, “He is a Nara and Shikaku-dono’s son. Don’t you think hiding this fact is going to backfire in the long run?” Naruto droned on. “Beside… our rules make it very clear that replicating Hiden is plagiarism and a heresy.” 

Hakurei smiled at his young charge, such insight was indeed worthy of the heir of Uzumaki clan. “I suppose you shall attend this matter personally?” Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. “I suggest you do, young master…” 

Naruto sweat-dropped, Hakurei had thrown subtlety out of the window and outright suggesting he strengthen their alliance with Aburame and Nara clan. “I get it, I get it…” 

Well, he was still stuck on the latest seal formula he was trying to design. So perhaps he better off making himself useful out there rather than pulling his hair over the fifth failed design for this week alone. Also it would take his mind off of Satori.

* * *

 

**Nara Clan Compound**

Unlike Uchiha clan, the main family house was modest and if not for the address Naruto wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from other house in compound. Though the most surprising part was… “Here we are, Uzumaki Naruto-kun.” 

Why the Nara clan head pick him up from the entrance personally again? 

Not to mention, “Ah, hello Uzumaki-kun! It’s been a while!” 

His whole team was here, which was not too strange. He had met Inoichi before, the Yamanaka clan head owed them a favor and agreed to evaluate his psych on Hakurei’s request. While Inoichi didn’t know about his contact with Kurama or glimpse of his parent’s memory, the older blond was well aware of abnormal maturity he developed. 

“I am Akimichi Chouza, nice to meet you Uzumaki-kun!” He gave Naruto a hearty handshake. “So young and already a Chuunin and formidable seal master, really impressive, kid.” 

Kid? It had been a while since he was called a kid. 

Then the last person greeted him, if not for the strange chakra of this person Naruto would have a hard time to spot him. “Aburame Shibi, it’s a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki-kun. Why? Because we have so many things to discuss, especially about our children.” 

So a meeting with four clan heads at once, but in comparison of meeting with Hokage and his advisors -which getting even too often to his liking- or getting personal lesson from Tokugawa Ieyasu… it felt surprisingly mild in comparison, especially since the clan heads were all trying to be as friendly as they could for some reason.

“Well then, excuse me for a moment.” The blond boy cleared his throat before a small puff of chakra smoke formed beside him and a perfect replica of him appeared. 

They couldn’t help but look at visible hands on the table, and back to the boy who politely ignoring their staring to pass a note to his clone.  _ ‘He is their son, alright.’  _ They couldn’t help but thought. 

“So the children interested to join our Foundation class are… Nara Shikamaru-kun and Aburame Shino-kun, right?” The clone was writing it down. “But not Akimichi Chouji-kun or Yamanaka Ino-kun.” 

It felt so strange to hear a boy who was younger by few month than their children to call them like that. 

Nara Shikaku frowned,  _ ‘He is nine? And his manner… Inoichi is not kidding when he told me this boy is mentally older than his body.’  _

_ ‘It’s been a while since the last time I saw him, and he is getting taller again.’ _ Inoichi was sure if he didn’t know this boy was his daughter’s age, he would have thought the younger blond was twelve at least.  _ ‘Though as usual… he act like an de-aged adult.’ _  Uchiha Itachi, Fugaku’s and Mikoto’s son was as bad and it was no wonder the two were good friends. 

Chouza was very confused by the enigma who was sitting across him,  _ ‘He is nine right? Chouji’s age?’ _

_ ‘What a mystery.’ _ Aburame Shibi thought. 

“We have distributed a guide book to Academy students regarding our program, most of basic informations are there but if you have questions not covered yet in this book.” He held up a plain book with Sealing Division insignia printed in the front cover. “I will answer it to the best of my ability.” 

Shikaku couldn’t help but feel getting a business smile aimed at him by a nine years old boy was a surreal experience. Though the strangest thing was how unflappable the boy was to find not one but four clan heads waiting for him. He was not intimidated by their presence at the slightest, and professionally accepted their request to enlighten them about Sealing Division’s latest program. 

“So… would there be a problem if my son, Shino joining this program. Aburame clansmen after all have unusual body and chakra?” Shibi asked, adjusting his sunglasses. 

The boy pondered the question for a moment while in the background the clone kept taking notes. “Unlike other Shinobi arts, Fuuinjutsu require chakra molding outside of our body which is within the seal formula… as for the nature of chakra, as long as it’s not corrosive in nature there shouldn’t be a problem.” He assured the Aburame, “Though when he is studying inside the tower, I would like to warn your son to not let his kikaichuu to wander outside of his body for various reason. They’re chakra eating bug after all…”

Shibi nodded, “I understand, you don’t have to worry as I have utmost faith in my son’s ability to control his kikaichuu.” 

Chouza beamed at the stoic Aburame, “Good for you Shibi!” 

Shikaku smirked, “So Naruto-kun…” He casually changed the way he addressed the blond, “Shikamaru believes when you’re teaching his class you imply Fuuinjutsu can replicate our Hiden, and rest assured.. we of Nara clan is not offended but rather curious how?” 

Shikaku pointedly ignored horrified look Inoichi had and scandalized face of Chouze, seriously… he was not being mean here. He was well aware Inoichi was strengthening clan relation to the Tower and in turn Uzumaki clan, and his clan and Chouza’s sooner or later would follow. However before that happen he wanted to know the heir of Uzumaki clan better, what kind of person he was. And what better ways to show someone’s real nature than cornering them? 

“How.” Uzumaki Naruto echoed him and Shikau was tempted to smirk again when he saw hesitation in the young boy. Then those warm blue eyes hardened to steel like glint, one he familiarly seen in the boy’s father. “As far as I know… your shadow technique fall under Y _ Inton _ , which based on the spiritual energy that governs imagination, can be used to create form out of nothingness… that gives me a base on where to start.” 

It was amazing on how quickly the boy thinking up a solution on the fly, but Shikaku knew his father and this quick thinking was why Minato was admired by his clansmen and himself. 

“There is property of movement and propagation in your Hiden so using sun and cloud character are given…” 

The boy was off to his seal-lala land, and Shikaku wondered if he even notice he had been talking non-stop for over an hour about seal. 

“And that’s basically how in theory… but I am sure once we get down to it, there would be a lot of hitch we have to work out.” 

Shikaku was amused, “So no kidnapping our clansmen and dissection?” 

“Shikaku!” Chouza hissed. 

“Chakra sample would be helpful but Hiden have nothing to do with your body, it’s not bloodline limit. What’s the point?” He cockled his head to the side, “Not to mention we have our rules on our research that limit it to be as humane as possible. Sure, going as far as necessary will give more result… but from our experience those inhuman seal more often than not gives us more trouble than it’s worth.” 

“For example?”

The Uzumaki heir laughed, “Niidaime-sama’s Edo tensei for example, since its creation we have this feeling we will regret it ever exist.” 

Shikaku had to admit you didn’t have to be a seal master to have a feeling a technique to raise the dead to be immortal zombie would bound to bring trouble one day. “Troublesome indeed.” 

He chuckled softly, “So, are you satisfied with my answers so far? Shikaku-dono?” 

He nodded, “More than that… thank you for sating my curiosity, but again… about my son.” The Uzumaki nodded, “While he has his own reason to be interested in your art, my wife believe it can be a good motivation so Shikamaru will pick up some slack at last. Do you think learning Fuuinjutsu would be good for my son’s motivation?” 

He got his answer in a heartbeat, it almost like the Uzumaki didn’t even need to think. “I have heard of people motivated to learn Fuuinjutsu for various reasons but I never know it works the other way around, in fact it’s widely believed Fuuinjutsu is good at discouraging people to learn it. Especially since it’s a given you will see more failure throughout your journey to master Fuuinjutsu than success.” He said with a completely contradicting smile, as if he had informed them a good news rather than a grim prospect of their son’s future as seal master. 

Silence… 

_ ‘He is definitely not lying…’  _

_ ‘Why he said it as if it’s a good thing?’   _

“Even for someone as talented as you? Naruto-kun?” 

Naruto blinked as pointing at himself, “Definition of talented in Fuuinjutsu is basically how good you’re at making your failures count.” Which mostly on surviving seal formula exploding, and not giving up in the face of countless failures. “And turn it to success… I don’t know about getting motivated, but most of us seal masters are sore loser who loath to leave failure as failure…” 

Shikaku grinned, “Well, you’re good at making your words sounds inspiring… I believe you have a lot of academy students convinced to try learning Fuuinjutsu.” 

“So far we have over twenty students applying for the class, but it’s not like all of them would make it.” Because of the harsh selection. “All of them are considered on their good hand coordination and passable mathematics, but by the end of first semester we predict around half would be washed out of the program.” 

Inoichi frowned at that, _‘As I thought… Sealing Division has so little resource with work load that could rival medic corps, I am surprised_ _they even considering to recruit academy students.’_

_ ‘Which make it logical for them to be very selective, and their graduation percentage could be lower than genin exam’s 33%.’  _ Shikaku thought. “Very well then, let my son join then. It will be a very good lesson for him at least.” 

The Uzumaki blinked, “We of course welcome anyone to the program.” While in the same time not missing anyone who drop out, was not said but clearly implied. “But what lesson you think we will teach your son other than the obvious?” He couldn’t help but ask. 

Shikaku grinned, “One lesson that… sometimes no matter how intelligent you are, your brain can’t help you to escape troublesome things.” 

He sweat-dropped, “Ah I see… then I will put Nara Shikamaru-kun’s name on the list.” This must be another father who liked to bait his son like Hakurei to Shion, in which he should let them go at it and moved on. “So, is there anything else you need from me? If not, I-” 

Shikaku’s grin widened, “One more thing, would you mind coming once in a while to play shogi with me? If you don’t know how I can teach you...” 

“I know how to play Shikaku-dono.” Like any prominent clan hear would, “I don’t mind playing with you, it would be my pleasure.” Seriously, why all intelligent strategists were in love with Shogi?  

At least he just had to play, he didn’t have to overturn the board to prove a point.

* * *

 

**Few days later… Tokijikuin-Timeless Palace**

“So in seven weeks… the Uchiha clan head is still tip toeing around his clan to get the new policy approved gradually, and in your end the induction of new recruits is still in progress...”

Naruto struggled to not flinch under Ieyasu’s gaze, “Yes.”

“Not bad, but aren’t you being too timid in your move?”

“To be fair, it’s getting restless in Konoha now…” The rest was classified business of Konoha so he phrased it vaguely. “That our security is compromised, and our investigation on it isn’t going so well…” They had too many things in hand now.

Ieyasu sighed, “So in short, your division and the Uchihas had too many things at once in your hands to bother with revolutionary change.”

Naruto glanced at Itachi and Shisui who were sitting in seiza few steps behind him, and Itachi inclined his head. “Well, it’s slow but we manage to get the progress to continue rather than halting. In fact we have taken advantage of current situation to get KMPF to cooperate more openly with Sealing Division.”  

Which made it also openly clear to Uchiha clan that Sealing Division had faith in them, and their alliance was real.

“All things considered I suppose you manage to get some things done.” Ieyasu admitted his future son in law and friends were doing quite well even though they had their hands full with several complication. “Still I couldn’t help but wonder, why Hiruzen-dono is keeping that Danzou around again? I have been watching that old crone out for years, and I have to say he doesn’t worth trouble he made to be kept around.” Then he added, “And that’s me being generous.”

They could agree on that, “Sure, if eliminating him carelessly didn’t mean airing our dirty laundry to the world.”  If there was one thing Danzou was irreplaceable for, it was his ability to keep their skeleton in the dark closet.

Ieyasu sighed again, “My father must be rolling in his grave by now since he let Sandaime to convince him to turn a blind eye on Danzou’s crime.”

It didn’t surprise them that equally crafty father of Ieyasu were tempted to end Danzou. Especially some of his more shadier plot could threaten their country and not just Konoha. “Is that means we have your blessing to plan his demise?” Naruto couldn’t help but wondered in hopeful voice.

“Don’t get too eager to end Danzou, you have more pressing matter and not even I can order his execution… but I suppose you have my blessing if the earliest opportunity arise.”

“Thank you very much, Ojii-sama.”

Ieyasu scoffed, “Still… the three of you should go to see Tatara, he will foresee your lesson for today. If my hunch is right, Danzou will prepare something nasty for you the moment you return to Konoha.” The man would want to confirm their loyalty again in fear they were going to change allegiance.

The three young shinobi sweat-dropped at that, “Why you’re giving us ominous premonition like that?” 

His grin said, he just loved messing with them. 

After that one week was over the team returned to  Konoha, they learned a lot of things in the capitol especially about HOMRA and their lord. In which, Totsuka Tatara was an angel faced demon who took joy in teaching the dirtiest trick in politic to sweet talking an ambassador to give up their organ. Mahiro disliked them on principle, but she hated  Shisui even more for some reason much to the Shushin expert’s disappointment. Benitora had a habit of going missing to get away from his father, which made them wondered if the name was jinxed or something since certain cat belonged to Benitora’s aunt shared his name and habit.

He also learned going back and forth from capital was exhausting, and he still had no clue why until now he had not met his fiancee yet. He was not too concerned but he was worried his fiancee had the same habit as her brother, that couldn’t be why they weren’t introduced yet… he hoped.

He was too afraid to ask.

Then like a charm Ieyasu’s prediction became a reality, Danzou did prepare something nasty for them waiting the moment they stepped their feet in Hokage’s office.

* * *

 

**Konoha**

It was another mission with Team Ro, or rather given to them under Team Ro’s name. In which rather than the whole team, the mission was only assigned to Naruto, Shisui and Itachi. The mission was tailing a jounin they suspected was Kirigakure’s spy. Naruto didn’t even bat an eye at the revelation they had a traitor in their midst, but he was surprised Kirigakure had a spy in Konoha. Shouldn’t they focus on their own ongoing civil war instead of other hidden village? Kirigakure was doing so well these days, in sprouting missing nin after missing nin. So the idea they turned other village’s shinobi to their cause was baffling to Naruto and his team.

Then again, Naruto didn’t get what’s going inside Yagura’s head.

Going homicidal after treated like crap by your village? A classic story of their life as jinchuuriki. Choosing self-exile rather than dealing with village that treat you as weapon of mass destruction and never a human? If not for his parents and friends, he would be very tempted to follow Roushi’s and Han’s example.  But he didn’t get why bloodline purge was passed by Yagura. It was strange to fear bloodline limit holder, considering he had a three tailed bijuu sealed in him. So it was very likely as the rumor said that Yagura had lost his mind.

But then how a Mizukage who had lost his mind get spies on their rank? Still, regardless of his doubt a mission was a mission so as a good and loyal Shinobi they just had to follow their instruction without questioning the detail. Which was a very tempting thing to do considering Danzou was the one who briefed them about this mission.

Why the heck this bastard the one who gave the the order? While Hokage-sama was still in the room, no less?

“Considering your talent in stealth you showed in your young age…” Danzou frowned at him disapprovingly, showing his opinion clearly what he thought of Naruto’s pranking days. “You will stay in the shadow as observing your teammates and our target. You can hide from ANBU, I am sure you can do the same against a jounin especially with your teammates’ assistance.”

A business smile bloomed in his lips in respond, and he knew it irritate Danzou to no end judging from the deepening frown the war hawk made. “Of course, councilman Danzou. I will do my best to acomplish this mission.”  

He definitely was not trying to be subtle on what he wanted from Naruto and his team. He was testing Naruto’s skill for covert mission, and decision making skill when his teammates were in danger.

“As for you two, Uchiha Itachi… Uchiha Shisui, both of you will be placed in Kohinata Mukai’s team. You shall observe his movement and decided when to assassinate him.”

Naruto couldn’t help but frown at the copy of profile file of Kohinata Mukai.  _ ‘This person has permanent teammates.’ _ He would get suspicious if Shisui and Itachi replaced his teammates all of a sudden for one specific mission, an important one to boot.

Unless…

Danzou, you bastard!

By the next day he confirmed their suspicion with requesting Ten’itsu, one of seal master specialized in medical seal and qualified medic to check hospital record.

“That bastard!” Naruto slammed the medical record Ten’itsu had passed to him on his desk. “He deliberately plan Mukai’s teammates to be out of commission!”

Shisui was gritting his teeth, “I knew he is a shady character but for him to deliberately injure innocent Konoha nin just to make spots for us to spy on Mukai…”

“Accident in their previous mission, it said…” Itachi noted the reason Mukai’s teammate admission to hospital written on the paper. “Does such drastic measure necessary?”  

Hakurei sighed, “Not really, Danzou is just too used to use unscrupulous mean to get what he wants to the point he forgot there was the more civil way.” Like simply assigning other pressing mission to Mukai’s teammates.

At that the three young Shinobi cringed in unison,  _ ‘So it’s merely out of habit?’ _

“I know it sounds dumb, but this habit of his is why Danzou is so dangerous.” Hakurei droned on, “He is a warmonger through and through, and even though our Hokage is well aware of Danzou’s shady way of working in the dark by now he still believe his childhood friend is not that far down there yet. Hiruzen believes in Danzou’s devotion to Konoha first and foremost, but… it’s still very hard for him to believe his childhood friend has become a monster.”

Naruto could imagine that, after all even now Hokage-sama still held a faint hope the blond was still his bright and adoring surrogate grandson. A hope Naruto was breaking without mercy behind his back.

“Still… assassination mission.” He looked at the mission brief again.

Hakurei’s gaze softened, “For all of you, this is the first mission that specifically target someone’s life.”

This was true for all of  them, while they already killed  their mission never specifically consist of taking someone’s life as it’s main objective. Contrary to popular belief about Shinobi, assassination was a rare mission to be carried out especially in Konoha. There was nothing to do with Konoha notoriety as soft-hearted village or keeping their good image to civilian client.

It was simply because targeting specific person’s life more often than not carry future repercussion, a   possibly non ending cycle not worth taking. Once there was an assassination mission carried poorly by a Konoha chuunin, around the eve of third shinobi war. There was witnesses and the chuunin was recognized by the wife of the target as Shinobi from Konoha. Revenge was a fearsome thing and not even a month later a request to assassinate that Chuunin came to Konoha. And same request was also sent to all Shinobi village much to their horror, and the reward was the whole fortune the wife inherited from her late husband.

It was not the most noteworthy turning point in history, but that act of revenge raised the tension and get the ball called Third Shinobi War rolling in their history. The chuunin didn’t even survive the first year of Third Shinobi War.

“Technically he is a traitor and one of our own so rather than assassination, it’s more like an execution.” Itachi concluded. “However… if he is suspected to be affiliated to Kiri.”

Shisui frowned, “Nowadays Kiri is unpredictable, with the civil war and everything. They does  have long standing grudge against Konoha like Iwa and Kumo but…”

“This mission is reek more trouble than simply executing a traitor.” Naruto finished. “I have no doubt Danzou is setting up more trouble for us…”

Seriously,  Danzou seemed to have unexplainable grudge against them. Not to mention back in their briefing… the way he looked at Itachi and Shisui, while he knew he was looking at him the same way, he didn’t like that power hungry eyes on his friends even more.

Not to mention according to rumor, Hatake Kakashi was recruited by Danzou himself to ANBU. Hakurei also implied Danzou had an issue with his late teammate, Shisui’s father. Danzou was suspicious and warry of Uchiha clan but it didn’t mean he didn’t acknowledge their power, so perhaps…

It was decided, for Konoha’s sake he would let Danzou to live as long as necessary but the moment he reached his dirty hands out for Itachi and Shisui… He was not going to give a damn to discrecy and eliminate Danzou, even if that meant he had to tap into Kurama’s forbidden power to do so.  

“Naruto? What’s with that scary look on your face?” Shisui asked.

Realising his slip, Naruto quickly curved up his lip to a wan smile. “Nah… it’s nothing, just think how life will be easier if we just get rid of Danzou, ha ha ha…” He told Shisui’s what’s on his mind jokingly.

“Is that so? You have been warned by Ieyasu-sama, you know~ it’s tempting, I know.”

“Right?”

It was not a lie but not the truth either, for once there was one dark secret he kept for them, how far he would go for them, that is…

Mukai Kohinata, graduated at the age eleven as part of acceleration program at the end of second Shinobi war. He was promoted to chuunin at fourteen through field promotion, and jounin at twenty three after two failed attempt in jounin exam. He was a Taijutsu specialist with average score in ninjutsu and bukijutsu, he had no aptitude for genjutsu but adept enough to dispel them.

"He has a rather lackluster career for someone who survive his Shinobi career to thirty years old." Shisui commented on the profile of their target. "Not to mention he is a taijutsu specialist..."

Taijutsu specialist had short range of attack, Mukai Kohinata had to be especially formidable to survive a war as one but his record said otherwise. "Hm... his mission record is... over two hundred D rank, 56 C rank, 65 B rank and 3 A rank..." Pretty normal record but slightly below average for a jounin. "Huwaa… on the next page are missions he failed at, over ten B rank and A rank… no wonder he is not trusted with higher rank mission even though he is a jounin."

Why he failed them though? He used to be in ANBU too. Though Naruto supposed it was right to suspect Mukai Kohinata, his mission record was reek of sabotage. Especially the part his mission percentage dropped after he quit ANBU, or rather he was dismissed. 

“Hm? Mukai family is… distantly related to Hyuuga?” He read out, “Vassal family, like Shiomitsu to mine…” That explained the kanji that made up Mukai’s name. 

Shisui cringed, “Eeh… this is not going to get us in trouble with Hyuuga, right?” He asked hopefully.

Itachi shook his head. “I don’t think so, his family descended from a minor branch of the Hyuuga clan…”

He could see the parallel between Shiomitsu and Mukai family, but it seemed Mukai separated themselves completely from Hyuuga. “And the split from the Hyuuga was many generations ago, so even though Mukai clan retain some proficiency in gentle fist they don’t have Byakugan anymore, and unlike Shiomitsu… they no longer have ties to Hyuuga.” 

Which meant if Mukai Kohinata was indeed a traitor, he would have no political protection whatsoever from Hyuuga clan. Still… even if Hyuuga was not going to interfere, this mission was still reek of trouble.

* * *

 

**Akai Tavern**

Naruto found it pretty funny that wearing bright clothes in civilian's belief was a hazard for Shinobi to be stealthy. There was a good reason why instructor in academy never made a big deal about fashion, as long as their clothes didn't hinder their movement it would work. Which was why no one commented on Hyuuga's fondness for white and lavender, or Aburame's choice of fashion.

If your clothes become an obstacle for you to be a ninja, you shouldn't even graduate from academy. Beside, contrary to civilian's belief ninja didn't have to hide in the shadow all the time, their stealth if anything was tested on how well they could keep their cover under unlikeliest situation.

Naruto however was just naturally gifted at stealth, or rather it was one skill he developed instinctively on the course of his childhood. Naruto blamed it to a child's moodswing, he had an impressive one back then. Sometime he wanted to be seen so badly, he made himself an eyesore people couldn't ignore. However when he wanted to be alone, to escape scorn he found it very easy to be unnoticeable.

Using henge he altered the his appearance slightly, using as little chakra as possible. Dark hair and slightly lighter shade of skin, then wearing a plain brown coat over his equally plain clothes. In short wearing something everyone in surrounding area tend to wear, which was contrast to what he usually wear. That alone was enough to make him unnoticeable, because they couldn’t relate his current appearance to Uzumaki Naruto. 

Then the easiest part was act natural, be as quiet as possible and blending in with the crowd. It was an easy thing to do in a crowded bar, a civilian bar that charged cheaper than one targeted for ninja and full of oblivious drunk.

"One more round! Give me another glass!" Crowed a dark haired male in standard jounin uniform, though unlike regular long sleeved shirt the man was wearing one with wider sleeve. 

_ 'So this is Mukai Kohinata...' _ He had opted to spy on the man by himself tonight, so he could get a reading of what kind of man their suspected spy was. Looking at the empty bottles, and metal ashtray full of cigarette butt Mukai Kohinata was a heavy drinker and smoker.  _ 'He is drunk... this is already his fifth bottle.' _ And tomorrow this man had an important mission.

Shinobi or not he couldn't be in full health tomorrow after a excessive drinking like this.

**"** **_I don't get human or ninja  most of the time, but I am pretty sure getting that drunk before a mission can get him killed, right?"_ **

What did that say about Mukai if Kurama, a bijuu knew getting drunk outta your mind was not the smartest thing to do before going on a mission,  _ 'Well...there are ways to sober up, but he already pass that fixable level of drunk… I even doubt this guy can go home on his own after this.'   _ There was no way Mukai wouldn't suffer a hangover tomorrow.  _ 'Kurama, make sure to always get rid of anything alcoholic from my system, drunks are dumb and I refuse to be reduced to that.'  _ He mentally pointed at grinning Mukai who chugged glass after glass of alcohol. 

**_'As if you would even think to touch anything alcoholic... seriously you're so proper about strangest thing.'_** Naruto could imagine Kurama was shrugging now, ** _'As for that dumb human, it's a good thing that you and those Uchiha friends of yours have no plan to keep him alive...'_** Kurama snickered.

Naruto scoffed to his drink, he had swapped the content with water so he didn’t have to worry about getting drunk.  _ 'We still don't know whether our suspicion is correct or not...' _ Leaving Mukai's character aside, Kiri gained nothing from spying in Konoha. Seriously, why the heck did Kiri pick a fight with Konoha while their domestic affair was in disarray? And even if there was some sort of hidden objective in spying Konoha, why Kiri?

**_'Why are you' getting fixated on making sense of this human's betrayal? Are you no stranger to traitors? "_ **

_ 'Because Kurama… If you look away and just turn your back on those you don't understand, you'll regret it someday...if by the next few days we confirm he is indeed a traitor and eliminate hm, the fact remain the investigation isn’t going to end with his death… beside I am interested in Kiri’s current situation…’  _

Kurama quieted down at that before asking,  **_‘Isobu’s and Kokuou’s prison… the current leader of Kiri is Isobu’s vessel, right?’_ ** Naruto have Kurama a mental nod in response, eyes straight at rows of colorful bottle of spirits, but in the corner of his eyes he kept watch of drunk Mukai.  **_‘Hm… I don’t know it’s relevant or not but before your birth… Isobu reformed once.’_ **

_ ‘Reformed?’ _ Naruto echoed mentally,  _ ‘How did that happen?And when exactly?’ _

**_‘I can sense it happen, but I wouldn’t know_ ** **_how_ ** **_it happened to Isobu… as for when… I am incapable to relate to human’s sense of time but I am sure not long before your birth.’_ ** Kurama grumbled,  **_‘Less than a year perhaps?’_ **

So around ten years ago, and if he wasn’t mistaken Yagura ascend to Mizukage’s position not long after that. He didn’t do anything noteworthy in the first few years of his reign, and only continuing ongoing tradition made by predecessors. So perhaps Isobu’s reform was not related at all. 

**‘** _ Maybe it’s irrelevant… but Kurama, does this person reek of ill intent?’   _

**_‘He is drunk… his thought is a jumbled mess, I doubt he even remember his name~ Why the heck did you ask me?’_ **

_ ‘Right, dumb question.’  _ He sighed as he watched Mukai grumbling nonsense to a drinking buddy of his and the civilian suggested someone had to bring the drunk jounin home. 

He was really feeling sorry for Itachi and Shisui they had to go on mission with this drunkard tomorrow, never mind their main objective was to assassinate the drunk man.

* * *

 

**The next day, Konoha’s west gate**

Naruto had warned them that Mukai Kohinata had foolishly compromising himself with excessive drinking last night, but it was still shocking to see a completely hung over Shinobi dragging himself to their meeting point. 

“Erm… Mukai-san right? I am Uchiha Shisui and this is my cousin, Itachi.” Mukai had the gall to look down his nose on them. 

Shisui suppressed his urge to scowl, “Mukai-san, are you feeling unwell? Perhaps you should stay at home?” Shisui asked because it was a basic courtesy and ignoring Mukai’s state would be suspicious. 

Mukai snarled, “Shut up brat! I am a jounin, a headache won’t stop me from going to my mission!” Then he stomped away from the Uchiha cousins, grunting about idiotic brat who should pay him proper respect instead of getting on his case. 

Shisui couldn’t help but thought perhaps he won’t felt even a speck of guilt if they had to kill this bastard by the end of this mission. 

Itachi in the other hand was very worried for both of their cover and real mission, because jounin or not going on a mission in less than fit condition was dangerous for himself and the team who went with him. In worst scenario, Mukai would get himself killed before they could confirm his status.

Not far from the gate a small puff of chakra smoke erupted and Naruto who was already miles ahead of the team cringed. He had been watching and while it was not far from expectation, Mukai showed up with hangover and in overall being a pain, he was still shocked by the man’s stupidity to show up on mission in that condition. 

_ ‘That’s not a good start…’  _

**_‘Can’t you just lie to that old Hokage and one eyed cripple and get this mission over with? I will bet my tails that somehow we can get this little spy issue tracked down to that shady looking old prune.’_ **

Naruto snorted,  _ ‘We wish… Kurama, I know it’s boring and troublesome but this job have to be done properly.’  _ He pointedly ignore Kurama’s meh~ and added,  _ ‘As for Danzou, well… I admit it’s almost funny how more than half of our problem seems to be related to him one way or another.... that’s not a bet.’  _

**_‘Meh~’_ **

* * *

 

**Konoha Military Police Force HQ**

“The Barrier Division must be messing with us.” Uchiha Yakumi stated with ire in his voice. 

Takigawa Houshou, a 7th Dan sealing master and member of Sealing Division nodded. “I concur, Yakumi-san.” He had met more than one Uchiha these days so calling them by surname would be confusing. “How long have we been at this again?” 

“Three freaking days… you guys from Sealing Division have been checking all anchor and pillar seals in every corner of this village and get nothing. We from KMPF have been patrolling and dispatching the best sensor and glaring at the sky with our sharingan in hope to see chakra ripple the barrier would emit if someone infiltrate Konoha…” 

“And still nothing.” Mikumo Osamu, a younger seal master finished. 

A long haired Uchiha named Inabi scowled, “This is ridiculous, we have better way to waste our time than looking for nonexistent threat they sensed.” 

By now they could really sympathize with each other for feeling the pain defending Konoha from inside, and got endless complain for doing their job. Seriously, why didn’t someone start complaining to sentry in outpost since if someone get this far that meant they didn’t do their job right. But no, it was their fault. 

Yashiro the most senior Uchiha present sighed, “Stop complaining and just do your job. Still… while I have faith in your seal, especially if it’s made by Uzumaki Mito.” She was a legendary figure that overshadowed by her husband but the fact that Konoha’s defense was never breached until now spoke a lot of her prowess as seal master. “Traitors like Orochimaru of Sannin for example must have a way to get inside Konoha undetected somehow…” 

Houshou nodded, “Yeah… as much as we have faith in our barrier, there is no absolute defense that stay absolute forever… it has been decades since Mito-sama’s era after all. But it’s odd this intruder is detected and then left just like that…” 

Mikumo frowned and then asked, “Is there any notable incident lately? Something missing or anything?” 

Yashiro shook his head, “Aside from a few bar scuffle and minor civilian crime… nothing.” He waved his hand in negative.

The 7th Dan seal master sighed, “Still… even though nothing happen, I think we should be really worried if someone really can just waltz in to Konoha as they please, detected and not caring because we can’t catch their tail at all…” 

That was a chilling thought. 

The dark haired seal master drowned deeper, “Could it be they found some clan’s secret passage and used that to bypass our barrier?” 

Houshou waved his hand in negative, “Mikumo-kun, perish that thought… no clan dumb enough to not put blood seal keyed in to their line on secret passage.” 

Yashiro nodded, “Right, and for your information most prominent clan keyed the blood into main family and it’s updated in every generation… beside secret passage can’t get this infiltrator quick enough to get away after he or she is detected.” 

Mikumo perked up at that, “Then… isn’t that mean our infiltrator get in and out of Konoha, detected by barrier, but get out before our patrol could track him down?” 

“...”

“...”

“...That sounds about right… but then who did that? Risking their life to infiltrate a hidden village and then left as soon as possible?” 

“Other than to mess with us?” 

“Being a pain?” 

“A prank?” 

“Giving us bad names?” 

The last wild guess stopped them on their track, after all they were very aware both of their organization by reputation weren’t doing so well for the last few years and their effort to recover was a slow going. This case while seemed menial in the first glance because so far there was no damage done to Konoha, it was seriously put their competence in question. 

Houshou cursed, “Crap, this infiltrators did some damage after all…”

Not to Konoha but to them.

* * *

 

**Somewhere in Hi no Kuni**

How unusual the jinchuuriki was not around Itachi and Shisui, he had thought the three prodigies were joined at the hip nowadays. Arguably Uzumaki Naruto was the weakest jinchuuriki due to his young age and nonexistent mastery over his jinchuuriki power, but he was also the hardest to get because of all those guards he had around.  Itachi and Shisui in particular hardly left his side. 

However he saw no merit to make a move to capture Kyuubi’s jinchuuriki now. 

He had been reckless to go after Kyuubi that night, but in the end he manage to eliminate Yondaime and his wife so it was not a useless endeavor in his part. Still… it would be a waste to leave them be. 

“Hm…” 

It seemed Itachi and Shisui weren’t too far after all, so why the jinchuuriki went ahead on his own? Typical of Konoha, teamwork was their core and yet… once the team separated they fell apart and Konoha never learned. 

So maybe this times… they would learn, it worth of a try, right? 

“After all! Tobi is a good boy!”

* * *

 

**Back with Naruto and Kurama**

Badump! 

Naruto covered his mouth, his heart pounding. “Just now…” 

**_“An ill intent… a brief one, why it get you so worked up?”_ **  Kurama felt it, but it was so brief it didn’t worth their attention. 

_ ‘I am not sure myself… but I think for a moment the seal is loosened, and I can feel a very…’  _ Intense thought, like merciless torrent that hit him hard. The sharp pain on his head was subsiding but the phantom pain was there. The seal was like a dam that blocked thought from flowing into him but just now it was so intense to the point some  _ spilled  _ to him. 

“I… have a bad feeling about this.” 

**“Che… it can’t be a good sign when both of us feel it…”**

Whose thought was it? So deep and dark like bottomless well… pain and pain, hollow… 

‘ _ Itachi, Shisui… be careful.’   _

* * *

 

**Please Review!**


	21. 21st Legacy: The play of Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by me, and my two wonderful betas. Daischy and aoe123. I did cut down this chapter by 3.5K but it gets too long LOL

**Interlude: False Enlightenment**

_Satori was a double-edged blade without a hilt, as written in his grandfather's journal, it turned out to be a figurative parable. The Satori could be a peerlessly sharp weapon, but the only way to wield its might is to suffer under the same power one unleashes. It is impossible to cut without, consequently, getting cut. Naruto had tasted it first hand when he awakened the Satori, opening his mind to foreign thoughts was akin to forcibly consuming something that shouldn't be ingested - it was revolting. So naturally one's body would reject it._

_Hence the headache and nausea._

_Unlike most bloodlines with painful activations, the Satori, according to Muramasa would never be a natural thing. A human's mind just wasn't made to be constantly flooded with foreign thoughts. Muramasa did try to get his ability under control and he mostly succeeded, but in the end, the Satori was never more a blessing than a curse._

_By tracking down his family tree using the Daimyou's connections, he had researched about how the Satori was developed and the origin of its name. By rights, it was a theory, but it made so much sense that Naruto was sure it wasn't just a figment of Muramasa's overactive imagination. That being said, Naruto was repulsed by the theory, because if it was true, his ancestors from his father's side were idiots._

_Using their physical and spiritual energy as weapons, Indra and Asura were the first who showed humanity how to weaponize Ninshuu. Thus, not only starting the era of ninjutsu, but also the rivalry between the Senju and Uchiha, which became a full-blown family feud. Frontal confrontation was not enough to sate their anger, so they competed in creating new techniques to get one step ahead of their rival. As the eternal rivalry went on, the Senju's side started to realize a decline in their clan. The reason was simple, they inherited the 'body' of the Sage, so as Asura's blood thinned, so did their power._

_The Uchiha didn't have this problem, or it just was not as obvious as the Senju's, the main reason being that they had inherited the spiritual energy of Indra rather than the body._

_The Senjus, specifically those with especially thin blood, were getting desperate of their handicapped bodies. Since they couldn't compete with their fellow clansmen with thicker blood, they had to look for an alternative which eventually traced back to the root of Ninjutsu. This discovery led to their efforts in recreating a Ninshuu technique to 'connect' people's spiritual energies with one another in an offensive way._

_Ninshuu was the Sage of Six Path's teaching, this meant that it was possible for them to inherit his ability. So through rigorous trial and error, Senju clansmen tried to recreate it, going as far as taking Shaman's blood to their family in order to nurture an aptitude in communicating through spiritual chakra. A few generations later, they finally succeeded. However, 'Satori', the newly developed bloodline, didn't turn out the way they thought it would._

_At first, the ability to read minds gave the Senju clan an immense advantage against their enemy, however, just like the Mangekyou Sharingan, the Satori also had its downside. Unlike the Sharingan that caused their eyesight to decline, the Satori would grow uncontrollable, making the user more sensitive to foreign thoughts to the point where it was driving them towards insanity._

_The Senju clan agonized over what to do with the bloodline and isolated members with the Satori bloodline, they couldn't let the Satori be integrated into the Senju clan for any longer. So, it was decided for members who were already beyond help to be killed out of mercy, while the children who inherited their blood, with even the slightest chance of awakening the Satori, were to be sent away from the Senju clan to a coastline village, far away from the battlefield._

_That was the origin of the Namikaze's bloodline limit, the Satori. An enlightenment that his ancestors sought after so desperately. It was some sort of karma in Naruto's opinion, for their sin of corrupting Ninshuu._

* * *

**21st Legacy: The play of Betrayal**

_"I_ _ _f a__ n absolute truth exists in this world, that would be it.  
That's why Shinobi exist… Because we love, we wish to protect,   
and that's why we want power…"  
 **Uzumaki Naruto**  


Betrayal was a funny thing in Naruto's opinion. He was pretty sure most Shinobi in Konoha would disagree, because betrayal was a crime and a dishonorable thing. Yes, Shinobis had honor, just not the same honor that Samurai held. However, he was not going to argue about betrayal with any Konoha Shinobi, not even Itachi and Shisui.

It was his personal opinion, that betrayal was a one-way road more often than not. Because people could feel betrayed without the person who betrayed them thinking the same.

He had been betrayed by a lot of people in his short life, and it started the day he was born. No, he was not being dramatic, his life was dramatic enough without imagining wild exaggerations. Sure, his sacrifice to be a jinchuuriki was for the sake of Konoha and many lives would be lost if he didn't become one. Sure, his father didn't have a lot of choices, and as a Hokage, he had to do the best thing for the village. In the end, it was still a betrayal to leave your son all alone in the world, and not just as an orphan, but as a village pariah.

He loved his parents very… very much, even though they only had him for a short time, he knew they loved him. But ultimately, a parent's duty is to take care of their child, and since they were dead and he was pretty miserable as a jinchuuriki… they did betray him.

Next were the caretakers in the orphanage, who, on paper, are paid to take care of him and other orphans. They didn't, despite it being their job. Naruto was sure that genuinely caring for him was not in their contract but neglecting him sure counts as not doing their job. There was a good reason why he was socially stunted by the age of six.

He had mixed feelings about Hokage-sama. Yes, Ho-ka-ge-sa-ma, not jiji anymore. He knew why the Sandaime lied to him and all the secrets the Hokage kept from him. What made him feel betrayed was… even though the Hokage treated him as his grandson, Sarutobi Hiruzen had depraved him from the one thing he craved more than anything.

That one time he asked about his parents, he wanted… he wished… Hokage-jiji would at least _lie_ that his parents loved him. He wanted some assurance that he was not unwanted, just one simple little thing… and yet, he was not granted even that. He was not trusted, and keeping a secret proved to be more important than his happiness. It was a shock to him when a person he thought of as his family couldn't even understand his desperation, and at that time, he truly felt alone.

For real…

He couldn't recall exactly when he had fallen asleep on the floor, he just did. Then he woke up with a nagging feeling and a headache. He didn't figure it out until years later, that his latent Satori went haywire because of the stress he suffered after the cold rejection. And that he had passed out because the pain was too much for his young body to handle.

It was pretty pathetic that he didn't take betrayal well to the point of almost getting himself killed over it. Years later, he still couldn't take it well. He was getting better, but it still hurt. Even Aizen's betrayal hurt - he might have never trusted the man, but that didn't make it any less painful. Aizen might have been a traitor and a liar, but he was still a caring and a good teacher who never once ignored him, the first one. For all the crimes he had committed against Naruto, the Uzumaki couldn't deny that Aizen was one of the few who acknowledged him.

So, Naruto learned that betrayal was a one-way street and the pain it subjects you to felt less painful if you understand the reason behind that betrayal. If anything, it would be downgraded from betrayal to a conflict of interest. Make sense out of betrayal, not a spectacle, only then would it be fair and minimize pain for all the parties involved.

Which was why Naruto didn't bat an eyelash when he found out that both the Uchiha Clan and the Tower, had a paper-thin loyalty towards Konoha. Unlike betrayal, loyalty and trust were two-way streets, that's how it works. You couldn't expect a long-lasting relationship without trust from both sides, which was why the task to integrate the Uchiha Clan and the Tower into Konoha was such a difficult task.

Trust could not be built overnight, but distrust is a parasite that would take only a blink of an eye to latch on and take hold.

The same could be said about their mission in which they were investigating a suspected traitor. More often than not, investigating a traitor would take a shorter time than surveillance, to be sure that someone was loyal.

' _Still…'_ Naruto mentally checked this covert mission's objective. The mission was infiltration, they were to spy on a potential alliance between Suna and Kiri. _'Why does it have to be a political nightmare inducing mission like this?'_

**_'I told you that you and your Uchiha friends are like a match made in heaven, it's a karma.'_** The bijuu chortled.

_'Kurama…'_

**_'It's just how it works with you three… get in trouble together and said trouble will roll over the hill with you.'_** Kurama sounded gleeful about it. **_'Now you're worried, remember just months ago you said… it works for you! Now eat your words! Sucker!'_**

Naruto rolled his eyes, _'You're not helping, Kura-.'_ His posture straightened, eyes narrowing as he picked up his pace. _'For a man hindered by a hangover, he sure moves pretty quickly.'_

**_'You're not worried for your Uchiha friends anymore?'_ **

Naruto shook his head, _'I am rightfully worried if my friends and teammates have to spy on an enemy nin with someone who reeks of alcohol and cigarettes! This is not going to end well, I swear!'_

**_'Of course, it won't'_ **

**Back with Itachi and Shisui**

_'This is not going to end well for us.'_ Itachi and Shisui thought as they trailed a few steps behind Mukai.

If this was a normal mission, Shisui would call the mission off and personally have Mukai dragged off to the Hokage's desk to complain about going on a mission in his condition. He was not fit for duty, especially not for a mission that consists of spying on potentially hostile groups of Shinobi. Even without enhanced senses like Naruto's, Shisui and Itachi could tell Mukai stank of alcohol and smoke.

The man had showered but the smell was still there. This mission was already doomed at this point. Their real mission, however, was an entirely different matter, they had to get a feel of Mukai's strength so getting in trouble with enemy nin served their objective well. Not to mention… this man had forced them to travel with little rest, if Shisui didn't know better, he would suspect this man was purposely trying to make them tired.

"We're here." Mukai announced grumpily. "Now, let's wait for our mission objective to arrive."

The same mission objective that would not be there until noon, which was over half a day from now. At least now they could recover some of their stamina, not much, but some. At times like this, they really envied Naruto's tireless stamina.

* * *

**Back with Naruto and Kurama**

It was a long wait, and Naruto was worried for Itachi's and Shisui's stamina, he didn't know if it was just Itachi and Shisui, but it seemed in general, that stamina was not the Uchiha's strongest point. Naruto hoped their exhaustion was limited to Mukai being a difficult team leader, and not a convoluted plot to tire them out.

**_'Oi, Naruto… a lot of Shinobi are coming towards this direction.'_ **

Naruto winced, _'They're faster than scheduled.'_ It was a good thing they rushed to this place as planned but he was unsure that if things were to get ugly, his team would get away unscathed. For now, he had to keep an eye on them. It was hard to gauge his distance to Mukai's team. He had to be close enough to give assistance if needed, but far enough so Mukai wouldn't be able to detect him.

Bad day or not, Naruto was not going to underestimate a Jounin who made it to his thirties.

**_'He is just trash.'_ **

**_'_** _Trash that has lived longer than any of us, excluding you, not to mention that he's a ninja with more experience than my entire team combined.'_ Naruto pointed out before he hushed Kurama. _'Shh! The Suna and Kiri team are here!'_

**_"Why me?!"_ **

Naruto ignored Kurama, as now he was torn, a little… a lot… _'Who should I pay attention to? Suna and Kiri or Mukai?!'_

**_'Naruto… you do a lot of things at the same time in a daily basis, yet you're conflicted about this?'_** Kurama pointed out his idiocy.

Naruto blushed a deep shade of red at the reminder, _'Right! How could I forget?'_

**_'Because you're an idiot.'_ **

_'Right, what will I do without you? Oh, the great Kyuubi no Youko!'_ Naruto deadpanned in his mind, Kurama snorted in return. _'Oh, it's a good chance to try that.'_ He closed his eyes, hands forming a clone seal. Slow and steady, he let his chakra flow, imagining his chakra constructing the clone at a much slower pace than usual. Like blowing a balloon slowly but steadily, instead of blowing it in one deep breath like usual.

He cracked one eye open to see a faint outline of his form. Like a ghost that slowly materialized until it became as solid as he was. _'Wai! I did it!'_ He did a mental happy dance. _'No popping sound! No chakra smoke! A perfect Kage Bunshin for espionage!'_ He had been practicing this for ages, and even then he could one clone, slowly. But now, he didn't have to worry about the noise or burst of chakra alerting the people of his presence.

It was pretty close to perfection, if he could say so himself.

**' _Congrats, idiotic vessel of mine… may I direct your attention back to your important mission?'_ ** Kurama asked in a polite tone that just screamed sarcasm.

Naruto and his clone looked sheepish as they split their attention to each group. Mukai, Itachi and Shisui were laying low on the top of a cliff, spying on the meeting beneath them. The Suna-Kiri meeting was still ongoing, it appeared they were exchanging some sort of code.

**_'Does this mean Suna is going rogue on your village?'_** Kurama sounded oddly curious.

Naruto shrugged, _'Not really, we're allied to Suna but we have no right to stop them from allying themselves to Kiri, unless this alliance is for turning on us.'_

Kurama snorted, **_'So tell me Naruto, which do you think is the key to peace, love or power? Which choice would provide your village with enough comfort to be at ease with their supposed 'allies' without having to spy for signs of betrayal?'_** [6] [7]

The blond didn't take his eyes off of his target as he answered, _'You're more talkative than usual, Kurama… but I don't dislike that.'_ Kurama was talking to him on the bijuu's own discretion. _'Are you repeating your father's words to Asura and Indra?'_

**_'...Just answer the question.'_ **

_'Hm… I am nine, even if I am mentally older, I don't think I am arrogant enough to claim that I know better than Rikudou Sennin.'_ No matter what Kurama thought of humans in general. _'Itachi, Shisui and I wish for peace… we have seen war and so we long for unrealistic serenity. Even so… we're still walking blind down this path to peace with no way of knowing whether we're right or wrong.'_

**_'...'_ **

_'Personally, however… I think Asura's and Indra's answer to his question, while not totally wrong, is very naive.'_ Naruto told Kurama bluntly, ignoring the bijuu's snicker that Naruto had the audacity to call the Sage's sons naive. _'Power gives you the authority to lead most of the time… and it's in human nature to follow a strong leader. However, power can only get you so far. It can't solve every problem, and in history, leaders with an iron fist had always fallen… either by assassination or during war they started themselves.'_

There were always ways to get around power.

_'And with just love… hatred will follow, no matter how strong it may be. And without power in this cruel world, you will achieve nothing. You can't protect anyone with mere feelings, but it's the strongest source of power there is... If an absolute truth exists in this world, that would be it. That's why Shinobi exist… Because we love, we wish to protect, and that's why we want power…'_

Kurama snorted, **_'When you say it like that, Indra and Asura really do sound naive…'_ ** In the end, love and power were just two parts of the same answer. Ninshuu was corrupted by humans for the very same reason, because they needed power to protect those they love.

' _Right… and that's why those Shinobi are down there,'_ He replied.. _'They might be our enemies, but do I hate them? I don't… I can't hate them.'_ Like how his father never hated his enemies despite the fact that he slaughtered hundreds of them during the Third Shinobi War. ' _If I do, it would be over something personal…'_ Like if they harmed his friends.

**_'Heh… I have to admit that blunt honesty of yours is why you're better than most humans in my opinion. You don't claim you have higher virtue than your kin…'_ **

Naruto resisted his urge to tease Kurama for his rare honesty, and instead, focused on the exchange of scrolls between Kiri and Suna. In his mind, he already formulated a plan. Whatever the team found about this alliance from closer inspection, Konoha would most likely be interested in what Suna and Kiri were up to, so… they would have to ambush either team and take a peek at the scroll, make a copy, and allow both teams to go on their merry way.

There was a good reason why Itachi and Shisui were on this mission, enough for Mukai to not get suspicious.

_' **Naruto, they're busted.'**_

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw one of the Kiri nin, the Captain, started to look around before alerting his comrades of Team Mukai's presence. _'Damn it! How did they…'_

**_'That Mukai guy reeks of alcohol and smoke. Of course, they would notice sooner or later.'_ **

_'Damn it! The Kiri and Suna teams split up!'_ Suna went after Mukai's team while the Kiri nin fled the scene. This was close to Kaze no Kuni's border so it was no wonder the one pursuing their spy was the Suna team, but was that the real reason? Naruto looked back and forth between Suna and Kiri, one headed East while the other North.

He made up his mind and activated Hikou no Fuuin to get ahead of the Suna nin and Mukai's team, while he left his clone to pursue the Kiri nin.

* * *

**Konoha (Sealing Tower)**

"And that's how you have come to this conclusion?" Hakurei exclaimed in disbelief.

Houshou nodded frantically, "The only one in a pinch over an unknown intruder waltzing in and out of Konoha is _us_ and the Uchiha clan! Even the barrier team is off of the hook because they _did_ detect the intruder, so it's _our_ fault that the intruder had gotten in and the _Uchiha's_ fault that the culprit wasn't caught." He pointed out.

In short, the Barrier Team did their job while the Uchiha and the Tower did not.

"Thank you for your input." Hakurei thanked his subordinates before dismissing the brown-haired Seal master. "Now, please go back to KMPF's HQ and inform the others that we're thinking of a solution so just act like nothing unusual."

"Roger, old man Hakurei." Takigawa Houshou saluted before he made his way out of Hakurei's office.

Hakurei glanced at Fugaku who was sitting across his seat -the last time Hakurei checked, the Uchiha didn't have that many wrinkles on his face- and said, "Both of us find ourselves and our subordinates in quite a predicament, don't you think so? Fugaku- _kun?_ "

Fugaku didn't even bother to protest because, of course, he would forever be Fugaku-kun to Hakurei. "Indeed…" They agreed to have a meeting in the Tower simply because the sealing division had better security, thus keeping outsiders from spying on them. "It's one thing after another, and just after KMPF is slowly adapting to recruiting personnel from the sealing division…" How they could trust taking recruits from Konoha now, assuming that there would even be anyone interested in joining, should they have the opportunity.

Hakurei sighed, "Stop pinching the bridge of your nose, it's not going to help our headache."

Fugaku stopped, sighing. "What are we going to do now? I can already imagine the elders going on stride about _that_ again."

"My side is in a slightly better condition, but we're dissatisfied with Konoha all the same… and _Danzou_ will treat us all the same…" He made a scissoring move with his fingers. "That man will try to prune us or something… he would take Konoha's tree metaphor to new heights, I swear."

The Uchiha clan head snorted, "Indeed… and when Itachi, Shisui and Naruto are not in Konoha… I would like to spare them as much as I could from this stupidity over our pride. I may be a proud Uchiha, but I know our limits. It will bring us more harm than good if we prolong our isolation from Konoha… The only reason I would ever consider _that_ is because between picking a fight with my own family and my village, I will choose the latter."

Hakurei gave the younger man a sympathetic look, "Well… you're right, family is everything… seriously… Why are the people we lead so blind? It's as if they refuse to see the bigger picture. I guess that's why we're the ones who lead our people, while I still wish they would take a hint. What we dream to be our ideal life is just a pipedream if we don't change ourselves. Uzushiogakure is no more… we _can't_ go home to a ruin… our young master was born here and half of his legacy belongs here."

He was not going anywhere… and as much as they hated it here, they need Konoha's protection.

"Even though my generation and Shion's remember Uzushiogakure, our children don't. What they know of our former home is just…"

Just a memory, and he was afraid they would become delusional of their former home.

Fugaku nodded sadly, "What our clan thinks as ideal is not realistic either… we might be able to take the Sandaime down, but what about the rest of Konoha? What about our children?" Then the rest of Konoha's enemy that still sharpening their kunai out there?

"Right… which is why we have to focus on the present."

The Uchiha clan head inhaled deeply and said the one thing Hakurei knew was exactly what he thought too. "What are we going to do about this?"

"Capture the intruder, I suppose… but we've been trying exactly for that… for three days." Which was pretty long considering they detected the intruder entering a couple of times, but they couldn't even catch a glimpse of the perpetrator.

Not to mention they couldn't find anything wrong with the barrier.

"Not to mention just now… I was called to the Hokage Office, and Kakoi was there…" Suddenly Fugaku had a very bad feeling about where this conversation was heading to, especially if the leader of the Barrier Team was involved. "And he said… lately, in the several instances of an intruder bypassing the Konoha barrier system, they were around the Uchiha clan district."

Fugaku scowled, "Why don't they just point a bigger finger at us and be done with it?" He slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"I know, Fugaku-kun… I know, this is a hard time for all of us. Though the fact that I was informed means they _still_ trust me at least." That was not so comforting, but it was still something. "Still… we have to calm down our people first, rushing ahead will just lead us into Danzou's trap."

"Danzou… Of course. What does that man wants from us anyways? He is so fixated on us… it's unnerving." Uchiha's pride or not, getting unnerved by Danzou was nothing to be ashamed of in Fugaku's book.

If he was not so desperate to get his son a place in Konoha's ranks, he would have kept Itachi and Shisui as far away as he could from Danzou. He hated how that man looked at his son and nephew. He hadn't been in the same room as the man with Naruto around, but Fugaku was sure Danzou wouldn't look any differently at his Uzumaki nephew.

Hakurei sighed, "Power… that's all he sees in us, the Uchiha's doujutsu and our seals... "

Fugaku contemplated for a moment, "Between us, I believe we have a pretty good chance of getting rid of him."

"Honestly, _I_ alone stand a good chance myself… the problem with Danzou is not getting rid of him, it's the aftermath once he is out of the picture." Hakurei pointed out. "I don't think I can put it past Danzou to not bring his closet full of skeletons with him to his grave."

The Uchiha sighed, "Right… but Hakurei-san, let me tell you this. If by chance, we're all going down because of his scheme, promise me that one of us will live long enough to drag that bastard down to hell - consequences be damned."

"Deal." He agreed wholeheartedly, "So before we get off the topic… the question of the year - what are we going to do to get us out of this mess?"

"Good question."

Both of them hung their heads in despair.

* * *

**Kawa no Kuni**

The problem with a group of elite Shinobi on the run back to their home was that their alertness took a sharp dip. Just because they were the ones being pursued, they believed that they had chances to spring up a trap and ambush the opposite forces, not the other way around. It was simple math and Naruto had to say he couldn't fault them for believing that.

Because most Shinobi didn't have a way to leap and cover miles in an instant. He was still perfecting _Hikou no Fuuin_ for real flight, but the weather wasn't windy today so for once luck was on his side.

The Kiri nin didn't have a Doujutsu to detect sealing formulas on the clearing they came across. Nor did they have the patience or well-needed time. Believing that they got a good head start from their pursuers, they didn't care to watch their steps closely.

"Gah!"

"My legs! I can't move them!"

"Damn it!"

Naruto's lips trembled, it never failed to amuse him how a trap as simple as the _Gomen Jimen no Fuuin_ could catch even elite Shinobi if they were unaware of the trick behind the seal. High-ranked Shinobi had already trained their body to enhance speed and strength with chakra; it was almost as natural as breathing to them, so their confusion was a small wonder. They were confused as to how such a thing had been able to glue them to the ground. The truth was simple, really, the seal just forced the chakra they emitted to stick to a specific spot, thus restraining their movement along with their chakra.

A chakra chain shot from his sleeve and ripped the scroll holster from the Kiri captain's waist. The man roared for it. "The scroll!"

Summoning another batch of clones, he duplicated the scroll. Naruto ordered the clones to split up as a precaution. After his clones were far enough, the remaining Naruto contemplated on what he was going to do with these Kiri nin. He didn't want to kill them, if possible, and even if they were trapped now, going out there to kill them in person would be a bad idea. Any careless action would be risking the exposure of Konoha as the one who sabotaged their mission.

He was also skeptical of how long Gomen Jimen no Fuuin could hold them to their spots. Having decided, his hands clasped before forming three hand seals in succession.

Ox → Snake → Ram

It was a good thing there was a sun shower this morning. **"Kirigakure no Jutsu."** It was a simple technique with only three hand seals. While his mastery over the water element was barely decent, this technique didn't require much of it. Though he was sure the Kiri team was not going to appreciate the irony.

He called another batch of clones and distributed a particular elemental seal tag, quickly erecting a barrier before digging a foxhole to protect himself with a simple seal that soften the soil like _Moyagakure no Jutsu_.

_"Kirigakure no Jutsu?!"_ an Indignant shout came from the general direction of the Kiri team.

"How dare-"

They were cut off by an electric current that ran through the thick mist, screaming in pain before they collapsed, one by one, onto the ground. Their chakra became very still and Naruto knew they were out cold. As he had learned from his former master Aizen and ROOT junior squad, Suiton plus Raiton was a bitch. Even for ninjas with high pain tolerance, staying conscious against it was hard, to say the least.

_'Now that I've completely disabled them… what should I do next?'_ He wondered to himself. _'I am already low on chakra too…'_ Chasing them with Hikou no Fuuin and setting a large Gomen no Jimen Fuuin took a lot from him.

He frowned when he poked out his head to count, he didn't misread the chakra signatures. The Kiri team was short one three-man cell, _'I missed one team?'_ This is the shortest route back to Mizu no Kuni and the scroll was with them. If they wanted to split up to confuse their pursuer, they should split into smaller teams. With the Suna team going after the Konoha team, they were the larger team they wouldn't pull this kind of stunt[J8] . Instead, they would have fought him head on.

So that leaves one possibility. They went to assist the Suna team in catching the Konoha team. Or perhaps…

_'I should return to the origi-'_ He stopped in his tracks as someone suddenly appeared and that chakra… where? He closed his eyes and loosened the seal on the Satori. Frowning at what he just sensed, _'Hm? Whose thoughts are-'_

His eyes went wide in shock when all of a sudden, a gloved hand burst through his chest. Time seemed to slow to a stop, and with the last little bit of power he had left, he turned around and saw a masked face phasing through the tree he had been leaning on. _'A ghost?'_

Poof!

The clone disappeared with a burst of chakra smoke, and the masked man sighed. "Yare, yare… I guessed wrong. The original is the one chasing after the Suna and Konoha team…" He glanced at the unconscious Kiri nin. "Still… for him to take down a group of Kiri elites so easily."

Granted the clone won not in a battle of skill, but in wits. It was still a very impressive feat for a sheltered jinchuuriki. "At this rate, perhaps…"

Allowing him to live was going to be a hindrance in the long run, to wait for the Kyuubi to reform might be a better plan. That was what he planned with Yagura, stir a civil war and get the Yondaime Mizukage naturally killed, and wait for the Sanbi to reform or he escaped from the seal and killed Yagura. He was not picky in which order his puppet died.

As for Uzumaki Naruto…

_'No, don't! Shisui and Itachi are-'_

**_'Shut up! He will die anyway, so what if those two-'_ **

_'Don't inflict the same pain to them! Please!'_

**_'It doesn't matter! Once Tsuki no Me-'_ **

_'Spare them… as long as we could…'_

**_'The world is not that kind to us… to Uchiha…'_ **

_'And that's why… be kind… be kind to them now… for now…'_

He looked at the general direction where the Suna and Konoha teams went off to and sighed. He had been patient for years, he could afford letting his cousins keep the Yondaime's son for a little longer.

_Yes…_  
let them be,  
after all, the longer their bond lasts,  
the greater the pain when they lose him.

Then Shisui and Itachi would understand the real pain, the curse of their clan.

* * *

**Back with Itachi and Shisui(5 Minutes ago)  
**

_'I told you so'_ wouldn't be appropriate in this situation, but Shisui was tempted to say it. Because… no self-respecting ninja would ever drink alcohol and smoke before a stealth mission and fuck the mission over six ways to Tuesday, like Mukai Kohinata did. Shisui was also sure that the Hyuuga clan wouldn't want anything to do with the bastard, they would be ashamed of him.

Shisui had decided, traitor or not, Mukai Kohinata would pay dearly as soon as they were out of this mess.

"After this." Itachi grunted from his left, eyes straight at Mukai Kohinata who was running a few steps ahead of them.

Itachi agreed with him, wonderful! Though Naruto, who sometimes was even more of a sticker to rules than, Itachi might disagree. "Mukai-san, the Suna team is gaining on us. Shall we confront them?" He wanted to slap himself for abiding to seniority, but they had a cover to keep.

Mukai snorted, "I suppose we should… On paper, Suna is one of our allies, but they _did_ pull this kind of shit. I imagine Hokage-sama would want to keep the alliance so-." He looked at their direction, inclining his head so they could see his left profile.

Their eyes widened when they saw the distinctive bulging blood vessels around Mukai's left eye, the all-seeing eye of the Hyuuga clan, _Byakugan_!

_'This is not included in his profile.'_ Shisui sweated a little. While the Byakugan didn't mean the end of the world, he was not prepared to kill a grown-up Jounin with the Byakugan. Simply because now he was unsure whether Mukai was completely without ties to the Hyuuga.

_'Depending on the situation, we should change plans from assassination to capture.'_ Itachi concluded, especially considering the situation they were in now, they needed more evidence to brand Mukai as a traitor - _condemning evidence_ or it would get ugly with the Hyuuga later.

They didn't need their relationship with the Hyuugas to get any worse.

"Be my back-ups but don't interfere unless I ask for your help, I alone am enough."

Huh? Say what?!

**With Naruto and Kurama**

The blond frowned when he at last caught up with the Konoha and Suna teams, suppressing his chakra to avoid attention. Mukai Kohinata was charging head on by himself while Itachi and Shisui hung back. They still assisted Mukai from time to time, but it was obvious Mukai was taking the Suna team head on mostly by himself.

_'He is winning though.'_ Mukai Kohinata was stronger than expected and the variation of Jyuuken he was notorious for was formidable as well.

Naruto was not familiar of the Hyuuga's katas. He knew how the Jyuuken works but in terms of the kata, he only knew the skin of it.

**_'He has the Byakugan, Hamura's eyes… don't you think you're too close?'_** Kurama pointed out.

_'I suppose I am alright at this distance, Shisui and Itachi have experience with the Byakugan.'_ And the Hyuuga lost badly against them, _'That absolute 360º field of vision in Shisui's words… is a bluff. Even though their range is that wide, they can't concentrate on everything they see. He is in the middle of an intense fight, and the barrier I put up distorts his perception enough that, unless he concentrates on me, it's unlikely he can spot me.'_ So as long as Naruto keep his head down Mukai won't notice him.

Kurama snickered, **_'As expected of my vessel, so sly… though we don't have much time to waste dawdling. So, are you going to kill this smelly bastard or not?'_**

Naruto narrowed his eyes, sensing three new chakra signatures. _'We will find out soon enough.'_ Hopefully as soon as possible, because he felt wary to stay in the open with that masked man nearby. _'Show your colors Mukai Kohinata… show us you're loyal, if not…'_

* * *

**Back with Uchiha cousins**

_He, at last, defeated twenty Suna Shinobi by himself,_ Shisui thought with no little amount of disbelief. It was quite a feat for someone who just recovered from a hangover. Mukai Kohinata was strong, there was no doubt he was. However, that power… does it belong to Konoha or…

Shisui and Itachi briefly exchanged glances, the older Uchiha stepping forward towards the presumed leader of the Suna nin who was on the ground, while the other were keeping an eye on Mukai. Shisui narrowed his eyes at the back pouch on his waist where the Jounin kept the scroll from Kiri, and reached out to take the scroll.

"Oi, Uchiha. What do you think you're doing?" Came Mukai's haughty voice.

Shisui trusted Itachi to keep an eye on Mukai while he had his back turned, taking the scroll he was after from the dead Shinobi. "Taking the scroll they had exchanged with Kiri. Hokage-sama would like to take a look at what Suna is up to I believe." It was foolish to turn your back on a potential enemy but Shisui was testing Mukai.

Itachi didn't take his eyes off of Mukai as he subtly approached a kneeling Shisui.

Shisui was about to open the scroll when Mukai stopped him. "Hands off of that scroll kid, you don't have enough clearance to look at it."

The Shunshin expert beamed, "I am just curious. Besides, I believe Hokage-sama said nothing in our briefing about not looking." His finger still glued on the edge of the scroll.

"I warn you, Uchiha…" He hissed, "Hands off."

Shisui hummed, "By the way Mukai-san… I am curious about why you are being so brutal with these guys." He trailed off, pointedly ignoring the Jounin's scowl. "I believe in our briefing we were ordered to spy on this meeting, sabotage them and find out what they're planning." Shisui cupped his chin, "When they pursued us… the correct course of action according to our mission was to prepare a trap to subdue them, avoiding casualties while keeping our cover."

Mukai sneered, "Getting rid of them is easier."

"But if a large team like this just disappeared with no news, no matter how good we are at covering our tracks… Suna will send their Shinobi to investigate these guys' disappearance." He pointed out cheerfully, "Then we risk our alliance with Suna if they start to suspect Konoha, and… by law, Konoha have no right to interfere unless this alliance between Suna and Kiri is against Konoha." Itachi continued.

"An alliance that's not with us will be against us, brat."

Shisui snorted, "The fact remains that we will be the ones _at fault_ and we can't claim innocence since we acted on unfounded suspicions." At last, he turned around, facing Mukai head on. "In the end Mukai-san, whatever there is inside this scroll… this mission has done more harm than good for Konoha."

Because Kawa no Kuni iss between Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni, whether or not they suspect Konoha, Suna would ask questions.

"Bah… you're just theorizing, don't make a fuss over something so trivial."

"Oh, but we have to. After all, through the course of this mission, you Mukai-san, have been thoroughly sabotaging it. Care to explain?"

Mukai narrowed his eyes, "What is there to explain exactly? I am just doing my job."

"You're a Jounin." Shisui pointed out. "You don't get your rank by being a fool, and yet you have been playing a fool the whole time. I don't know if you're just an alcoholic, so you can't control yourself before an important mission but…"

Shisui smirked, "I never known anyone dumb enough to eliminate over twenty Shinobi who belong to an allied village when the investigation is still ongoing, and we have confirmed nothing that could justify this action. Not only that… we're both Chuunin and you go off on your own against twenty elite Shinobi of Suna, and not even once do you watch us out. Four jounin tried to sneak behind us with poison and you didn't even notice. If we were normal Chuunin, both of us would be dead by now."

Mukai snorted, "If you got killed, you would have no one but yourself to blame."

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, "This is not the matter of competence. You're very close to deliberately endangering both your team and your village. Don't you think you will get away so easily, Mukai Kohinata-san."

The distant relative of Hyuuga scoffed, waving Shisui's warning dismissively. "Whatever you say, Uchiha… all high and mighty because you have a clan to protect you." He sneered, "You can complain once and you're safely inside Konoha's wall, but outside, I am your captain so hand over that scroll or-"

"Oh, I don't think so Mukai-san!" Shisui beamed in faked innocence, "Let me keep this, because after that stunt you pulled, I am not sure of its safety with you! Here, I'll give you some blackmail material on me so once we're safe and back in Konoha, you can complain all you want. Go ahead!"

Naruto would be so proud of him, he even handed Mukai a figurative olive branch. Itachi looked like he disagreed though, his face said Shisui was having too much fun with this mind game.

"Hand over that scroll, Uchiha! Or else..." Mukai growled.

Shisui pasted a look of mock horror, "Now you're threatening me?! Are you sure? Seriously?!"

Mukai had his Byakugan active and his face was red with anger. "It seems you're not a cooperative subordinate, well… I lost my patience due to your disrespect and it's time I can quell some."

Shisui hummed, neither he nor Itachi were surprised when three Shinobi wearing Kiri's ANBU mask appeared via Shushin. The black in the Uchihas eyes faded to red and three tomoe swum in a pool of red. "Well, well… what does this mean, Mukai-san? You have friends from Kiri?"

Itachi shunshin-ed to his side, Sharingan eyes narrowed at the team from Kiri. "Or perhaps… you have betrayed us for Kiri, Mukai-san?"

He sneered, "I betrayed no one, it's Konoha that betrayed me first so I took my loyalty to a worthier master."

"Betrayed you first?" Shisui echoed in an incredulous tone.

"I worked hard to get a spot in ANBU, I am strong enough to be an ANBU captain but… the higher ups favor Shinobi with pedigree like Hatake Kakashi and Hyuuga main family members! I am as strong as they are but I am not given the same privileges! I was even forced to turn in my mask!"

Itachi sighed inwardly, while thinking that Naruto was so right about betrayal being a one-way street. "Considering how far you have fallen, I can't say Hokage-sama's decision is wrong."

"If your loyalty is measured by promotion and rank, you're not a true Konoha Shinobi… after all, being a Shinobi is not a job but a way of life." Shisui added. "How disappointing Mukai-san…" He put the unopened scroll to his pouch. "I have hoped we could reason with you…"

"So Konoha knows I am a spy." He scoffed, "A shame, I like my job as a spy but if I go back to Kiri with your heads, a generous reward awaits me from Mizukage-sama."

Shisui smirked, eyes closed. "Truly a shame, Mukai-san."

FLASH!

A bright light erupted from above and Mukai, who had his Byakugan activated, was blinded in an instance, howling in pain, while the other Kiri nin, although blinded, were not in as much pain as Mukai. They sensed their enemy move and swung their blades in hopes to stall until they regain their sight. Seconds passed but they could feel that the chakra flare being emitted by the flash tag had yet to cease, which was an abnormal occurrence as usually flash bombs didn't last this long.

They were Jounin so they could detect incoming projectiles from sound and vibrations in the air. However, it took all their concentration to do so, and when they were focused on dodging kunai and shurikens, they didn't notice a chakra construct in the form of a chain sneak in, wrapping around them like a cobra and taking them captive.

"Uwaah!"

One by one, the Kiri nin were dragged to the ground, Mukai was no exception, as the man hit the ground face first.

Shisui opened his eyes, blinking because even though he had his eyes closed, the flash tag was brighter than normal so he was seeing a few spots. "You took your sweet time, Naruto."

Naruto glowered at Shisui from beneath his mask, "Excuse me if I didn't want to interrupt your one-man show."

Mukai opened his eyes, they were throbbing painfully but he ignored it because he had no plan to let himself be under their mercy. He knew what had befell his comrades so he kept his face down to avoid looking at the Sharingan. His Byakugan was still blurry but he was sure what chained him was a chakra construct.

_'Fool! Anything made of chakra is powerless against-'_

Much to his shock, the chakra chain didn't disperse even though he released a pulse of chakra from his whole body to disturb the construct. "Why won't this chain break?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes at Mukai, "A shame, really. You're not a Hyuuga and yet you're no less skilled than any Hyuuga clansmen in my eyes, Mukai-san." If Mukai had been a pureblooded Hyuuga, the clan would have hailed him as one of their best.

"And to answer your question…" Naruto trailed off, "Unfortunately the Kongō Fūsa is not a normal chakra construct. If a bijū can't break it, neither can you." Naruto stated coldly before one more chain wrapped around Mukai's head, forcing him to look up, thus exposing himself to two pairs of Sharingan eyes. He closed his eyes stubbornly, unwilling to succumb to the Sharingan. Then he felt cold metal on his neck, "Choose… it's either surrender quietly or we will slit your neck right here."

Mukai reluctantly opened his eyes and let himself fall to the Sharingan's mercy. "Damn it…" He cursed weakly before his eyes rolled back and he was out cold.

Naruto eyed the unconscious traitor with more trepidation than relief, the mission was to kill him but Mukai was more useful alive than dead, right? They will find out what's up with Kiri, even though he was sure Danzou already knows but… but the traitor would be a hindrance to bring back home and adding these three Kiri nin to boot.

BADUMP!

"Naruto? What's with that face?" Shisui asked, "I finished sealing the corpse and I have sent a clone to the Kiri team you left behind to clean up after you." In which Shisui's clone was going to put them under genjutsu and put a false memory before sending them off back to Mizu no Kuni.

A rush of memories from his clone hit him and his face paled, "Run!" He declared, "We have to get away, my clone was destroyed and-"

Itachi looked at him with worry, "Naruto, calm down… what hap-"

"Urk."

As one they looked down, just in time to see the chained head of Mukai Kohinata rolled off of his body. And the head stared back at them lifelessly, there was no emotion in his eyes as if he was still deep in Shisui's illusion.

"Huh?"

Naruto reacted as he, Itachi and Shisui dashed forward while their three hostages were killed swiftly with a slash on their jugulars. He was moving as fast as he could but Naruto could tell his left hand that was holding the chain connected to the three recently dead hostages was wet with blood. He could see Itachi and Shisui were just as shocked as he was, it was as plain as the day that they were almost killed but spared at the last moment.

Then a ghost appeared, seemingly emerged from the ground. He had shoulder length shaggy hair, and dressed in black from head to toe, leaving almost no skin exposed. On his right hand was a kamaitachi, with a chain connected to his left, the blade was soaked in blood. But what drew their attention the most was the ominous orange mask he wore, with a single eye hole that didn't hide his lone Sharingan eye from the world.

"You…"

_**The Uchiha from nine years ago, Uchiha Madara!** _

* * *

BONUS: **Naruto, Kurama's favorite host. Maybe…**

Uzumaki Mito was a self-righteous bitch who claimed his power was a source of calamity, so he had to be sealed within her. Kurama was blinded with rage back then, but now he wished he could call Mito out on her hypocrisy. Did she forget whose family feud Kurama was dragged into? As much as Kurama hated to call himself a victim, after all that he had been through, it was an apt label. After all, he wasn't helping Madara out of his own free will. He was forced out of his calm dwelling to aid their stupid fight!

Did he get the apology that he so desperately deserved? No, instead of an apology, he was imprisoned unjustly, and Mito and Hashirama had the gall to make it sound as if they had done the world a favor. Unlike that drunk Tanuki, he never attacked humans unprovoked. Not because he liked them, but after Indra and Asura, he and his siblings - _the dumb tanuki aside -_ decided to stay away from humans as a whole to save themselves trouble.

Then Mito and Hashirama went out of their way to gather all the bijuu like they were some collectible merchandise. As if the wound to their pride was not deep enough, the bastard couple dared to claim it was for their father's dream.

PEACE!

His next host was only slightly less guilty than Mito because she was just inheriting the job as his vessel. But that didn't make Kurama hate Kushina any less, especially since she took Mito's advice to 'fill herself with love' to deal with his hatred. If there was anything he could agree with Kushina on, it was that neither of them got a good deal out of this accursed bond. That being said, it still got on his nerves how Kushina treated her jinchuuriki status as some sort of sacred duty.

Kurama was nice enough to give her and her husband a quick death before getting sealed into his next host.

He didn't have high hopes when he got stuck in Uzumaki Naruto either. However, after acquainting himself with the boy, Kurama could say _at last_ he got a better deal. At least Naruto was not a self-righteous Uzumaki who thought Kurama deserved to get stuck in this hell hole like the previous two and felt guilty for his fate. Kurama didn't want sympathy of course – _he was the mighty Kyuubi who didn't need pity_ \- but it was considerably a step up, as his current host put some effort to make this accursed bond between bijuu and jinchuuriki more bearable.

Though sometimes… Kurama wished Naruto didn't work so hard to make their living arrangement better. Such as…

**"Don't décor this place! Let this cell be dreary and wet for all I care, but don't paint the bar orange!"**

"It's a very lively color, and to be honest I don't like this sewer either. There must be something wrong with my head and I'm fixing it."

**"STOP!"**

Seriously, he was happy enough that in this small cell he was free to move his limbs unlike when he was stuck inside Kushina and Mito. As for the dreary sewer… the less said about it, the better.

"Kurama, what do you think about this seal to improve your lighting?"

"Good morning, furball! The sun is very nice so I wonder if you feel it when I was sunbathing."

"Hey, I attuned the seal to my senses so you can taste the food I eat. Isn't ramen the best comfort food in the world?"

The synchronized senses were nice and all but Kurama could live with not tasting human food, and he'd rather not have Naruto talking his ears off. He almost missed being ignored by his last two vessels, _almost._

"Kurama, I feel sorry you're cooped up in there."

Now what? He was almost tempted to sigh at his vessel. After years of living inside this boy, he learned to tolerate Naruto's antics so he'd always listen first and scream later. As bizarre as it sounds, he had raised this boy since Naruto was six. **"What brought this up?"**

"Eeh… you see, it's been raining all week in Konoha and Shisui says the cats kept by the Uchiha clan were going crazy because they weren't able take a walk outside."

**"…"** Should he keep listening or should he scream at this numbskull now?

"They're tearing curtains and tatami apart, meowing nonstop… Shisui looks sleep deprived because the granny next door is keeps like… a dozen of them."

**"…"**

"I am so sorry for not noticing sooner, so I'm thinking of a way to get your consciousness out from time to time from the seal." Naruto declared, a hint of guilt in his voice.

He would like to remind Naruto that he was _not_ a cat or dog, but he couldn't deny getting stuck here wasn't frustrating either. Besides, if Naruto was really going to give him some freedom, Kurama supposed he could swallow his pride just this once. Let's indulge this boy for now, it was not like Kurama was expecting anything!

Or so Kurama thought-

"It's surprisingly simpler than I thought!" Naruto was grinning from ear to ear, "I just need to apply the same principles as the Kage Bunshin in this seal and bind it with our chakra, fooling my jinchuuriki seal since the majority of your chakra stays within me while transporting your consciousness and some chakra to this clone!"

Looking at Naruto's beaming face, he had an urge to claw the brat. **"Clone, you said…"** He was looking at the mirror, trembling with fury and embarrassment at his reflection.

Naruto and his teammates had the decency to look embarrassed, "Well… at first I thought that I could just lend you a clone of mine, but it's not a great idea to have one of me roaming with red eyes and claws around Konoha. So, the other idea is looking for another body… and with keeping your comfort in mind…"

"We think this body that looks as close to your original is the best!" Shisui beamed and since it's his first time speaking to Kurama face to face, he was doing his best to give a good impression and hopefully making amends on behalf of his clan. "We were torn between getting a monkey or a fox" It was a sad attempt at boot-paw licking Kurama on Shisui's part.

Monkey? How does he look like a monkey? True, his upper body was somewhat human or monkey like in anatomy but-

"Shisui… be quiet." Itachi was sure mentioning that they were looking for a monkey was not a good idea.

"Well, never mind!" Naruto hastily added, "We got a good deal from a hunter on our way back from the capital that he is going to sell this kit as a pet! Akari did his best to open and keep the chakra path in good condition, so how does it feel?"

Kurama snapped, **"I feel GREAT in this stupid kit's body!"** The body he currently occupied was that of a fennec fox, a smaller species with a cat like body and ears too big for its petite head. In short, it was a very cute and cuddly body unbefitting for the strongest bijuu to reside in.

"Ku-rama? Uhm… is anything wrong?"

**"Everything?! Whose idea was it to get me this… fox body?! It looks retarded with its big ears and small jaw! I look like a Chihuahua!"**

Shisui coughed and turned away, his face was red and his shoulders were shaking with mirth.

Naruto averted his eyes guiltily, "Erm… among the game hunt we saw on sale, this fennec fox looked the closest to your original form." Actually, it was because this body looked the cutest, but he would be suicidal to say it to Kurama's furry face. "But it works, right?"

**"I am the size of a house cat! Can't you get me a bigger body?!"** At least one as big as a wolf, in this size, he could be trampled by accident!

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and clapped his hands together in an apologizing gesture. "Sorry Kurama! But bear with this for a while okay?" And faster than Kurama could react, Naruto clasped a classy looking necklace chain with a circle pendant, which was engraved with a seal on the back and the sealing tower's address on the front.

**"I am not a pet!"** Kurama pounced but was easily caught by Naruto who was holding his sides.

"It's just in case someone sees you! I also added a seal to hide your chakra signature so you can take a walk around the perimeter of the tower!"

Kurama stopped struggling, **"I can't even walk out of the barrier surrounding this place?!"**

"Well… Konoha citizens have developed a dislike for foxes since that night It would be fine if you avoid crowded places, but it's just safer around here!" Naruto explained as he put Kurama down gently before idly holding up a morsel to his mouth.

Kurama was about to protest but he couldn't resist eating the offered morsel and finished it in a gulp. **"Na-ru-to… you- you-!"**

"Well… it's a fox after all so ingrained instincts are kept. Even if you're in charge, you need to eat, drink and… well." He gestured towards the bowl of food and water by the door, then to a cat toilet full of sand.

He even had to take a dump like a mortal?!

"Cheer up Kurama! I will ask someone to install cat doors around the tower and the weather is great today for a walk! You can even hunt some game." Of course, Naruto refrained from pointing out that with his tiny body, Kurama could hunt rodents at best.

Kurama let his instinct took over and pounced at his insufferable host. The fresh air was good and all, but he was still holding onto Naruto's promised bigger and dignified body soon.

And no matter what, he refused to eat fried tofu! Ever!*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *If no one gets the joke, kitsune traditionally is a fan of fried tofu. Kurama thinks Naruto is turning him to a vegetarian.
> 
> Fried tofu and Kitsune aside, Tobi makes his entrance on the stage of Unsealing Legacy!  
> As shown by his monologue, he is not stable as there's part of his heart that still hesitate to follow Madara because of Itachi and Shisui. I am not sure with canon, but it says a lot if Tobi really hold his promise to Itachi until his death. So I shows this dilemma on the basis Itachi and Shisui exist, and protecting Naruto like his old team would Rin, their precious teammate. His dark side wants to subject the rest of his clan to the same pain but in the other hand he couldn't bear to do it to Itachi and Shisui.
> 
> There's a plot hole in canon why Obito dawdle so much with Moon Eye plan, so I make the reason that deep down he didn't want to do it and drag it on as long as he could like they need money *they pull zombie+Zetsu army, how did they need money?* and what else...  
> See you in next chapter, drop soul food for me *REVIEW* and... have a good day readers!


	22. 22th Legacy Teaser!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Naruto open his big mouth and not-Madara isn't happy with him.

Teaser:

“When we lose our loved ones, our love can instantaneously turn into hatred, and we lose sight of everything else…. No matter how deep our love, our hatred and despair will run deeper.”

Naruto stared wide-eyed at the Uchiha before him, as if it was the first time he saw the man.  _ ‘Deep darkness… sadness and anger so deep that I feel suffocated.’  _

“And that emotion is what awakens our Sharingan…. the mirror that reflects our feelings for our loved ones.”

That explained the mystery of the Sharingan’s awakening, but Naruto was more concerned of his own condition. He tried to focus his chakra to close his seal on the Satori, but for some reason, it couldn’t block the intense emotions coming from Madara.

**_‘Oi, Naruto!’_ **

_ ‘I feel sick…’  _ He coughed, his head throbbing painfully.

Itachi grasped Naruto’s shoulder, wondering what came over the Uzumaki.  _ ‘He looks sick, what’s wrong with Naruto?’ _

Shisui snarled, “Oh yeah? I still don’t see the cursed part?”

The older Uchiha let out an amused chuckle, “You can’t see it yet, can you? Uchiha Shisui…. Uchiha Itachi… of course you don’t, after all, you don’t have the heavenly eyes that see the truth of all of creation without obstruction yet…”

Suddenly it dawned on Itachi and Shisui what the other Uchiha was implying, he was talking about the legendary next step in the evolution of their dōjutsu.

The Mangekyō Sharingan

“I suppose I should help my descendants develop their eyes. Then you can see the truth and experience our curse yourself.” He cocked his eyes slightly, “Now the question is… what does it take for us to awaken our Mangekyō Sharingan? How much pain does it take for us to achieve that power...”

Itachi’s eyes narrowed, before his Sharingan went wide in shock. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the next step of their dōjutsu requires an even stronger emotion, and to experience that…

“NO!”

He reacted, drawing Tenrō and attempting to cut Madara in two. Shisui followed closely with Shibien, but their blades went through the black clad Shinobi. With growing horror, the Uchiha cousins couldn’t react fast enough when Madara grabbed Naruto by his neck and slammed the Jinchuuriki against a tree with a sickening crack, Hokuto noisily falling to the ground.

“Gah!” Naruto choked out.

“Let him go, Madara!” Shisui growled but neither he nor Itachi dared to make a move when Naruto was still in Madara’s grasp.

_ ‘This is the worst possible situation I could have gotten myself into.’  _ He thought to himself.  __

**_‘Naruto, you idiot!’_ **

The Uchiha hummed, “Namikaze’s Satori bloodline hmm?” That made them pause. “No wonder you look unwell… boy, an Uchiha’s emotion is too much for you. How ironic for a Senju descendant to fall victim to their own bloodline limit.”

“Go to hell…” He hissed, provoking the Uchiha was unwise but he was too irritated to think clearly. “Akh!” With his windpipe pressed, Naruto couldn’t breathe.

“Curious… how curious, I don’t know much about the Satori. After all, the Namikaze is an almost extinct clan, a shame to kill you but-”

Kongō Fūsa materialized and the Uchiha was forced to let Naruto go before the chain ripped him to pieces.  _ ‘He… dodged my Kongō Fūsa instead of letting it pass through him? Why?’ _

“Naruto!” Itachi and Shisui shunshined to his side in an instance. “Go, he is after you!”

“What?! I am not leaving you guys with him!” Naruto snarled.

“That mad man wants to kill you to get us to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan!” Shisui snarled back, “Go!”

“Listen to us! He is not going to kill us! You’re the only one in danger here, Naruto!” Itachi hissed.

“But-” Naruto stopped, whirling around and threw a punch to his side.

Itachi’s and Shisui’s eyes widened when they saw Madara was behind them in a flash and he caught Naruto’s fist in his grasp. “Allow me to help you to choose.”

Whoosh!

Then the world started to spin and Naruto disappeared from their eyes. Itachi eyed his outstretched hand in shock, where all his hand reached was air. His friend was gone…

Tenrou was drawn in a flash and he swung the blade over the older Uchiha. The blade phased through and Madara side-stepped them with ease when Shisui followed, attacking with his Shibien. “Where did you take Naruto?! Return him to us!” Shisui demanded.

Madara chuckled, “Return him? A shame that I can’t return him… he is gone.”


End file.
